


Let It Snow

by beforethedawn, ConstructFairytales, Destinyawakened



Series: Buddhist and the Bear [2]
Category: Charlie Countryman (2013), Hannibal (TV), Hannibal Extended Universe - Fandom, The Big C (TV)
Genre: #WinterMurderland, Anal Sex, Beauty - Freeform, Blow Jobs, Bottom!Lee - Freeform, Cafes, Daddy Kink, Diners, Drinking, Fucking, Jealous!Lee, Jealousy, Lee is not that great of Buddhist, Lingerie, M/M, Mentions of Will Graham - Freeform, Mentions of Will Graham's dogs, Shameless Smut, Ski Lodges, Smut, Spanking, Tattoos, actual bears, hannigram tagged since it's technically a hannigram au rarepair, jealous!Nigel, not even in canon, rarepair, sensual massages, top!nigel, winodogs, winter holidays
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-15
Updated: 2017-01-13
Packaged: 2018-09-08 16:29:12
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 37,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8852035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beforethedawn/pseuds/beforethedawn, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConstructFairytales/pseuds/ConstructFairytales, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Destinyawakened/pseuds/Destinyawakened
Summary: Lee hasn't celebrated Christmas in years, but since dodging death, he's rethinking a lot of things in his life, including ones he's never done before. Nigel's sure that his husband is a little crazy.





	1. Chapter 1

It was their first holiday season together, not spent in a hospital or with Lee throwing up for hours, and Lee decided they would should get away. He had no family, Nigel had no family, what good was sticking around Jersey or New Orleans for the holidays. Lee bought them both ski jackets and snow shoes, sweaters and ski pants, everything they would need, in hopes that Nigel would agree. He laid everything out in Nigel’s oversized chair in their very zen penthouse, so that he’d see it all when he came home.

The penthouse was decorated with green, golds, and a dash of red, with tinsel and garlands lining the walls, and a pine tree stood by the big window leading out to the garden area. Lee was just starting to decorate it, wanting to take his time, wearing his old man sweater Nigel hated and fitted pair of jeans.

Nigel had been busy when they’d finally returned to Jersey from Europe. Business had been good in his absence. He was finally caught up on everything that went on, and today had been spent taking care of … a few loose ends. He nodded at the guards that stood at the entrance to their private elevator in the parkade, and headed up.

The doors opened, and Nigel blinked in surprise to see the interior of the penthouse drenched in evergreen branches, gold and silver bows, and red accessories. He took a step in, and gave a sideways look at a glittery reindeer hanging on the wall, then looked for Lee. “What the ever-loving fuck happened in here?”

“I may have gotten carried away at Macy’s,” Lee said, grinning over at Nigel. It had been over a decade since Lee decorated for the Christian holiday, and though he didn’t believe in it, he still enjoyed the sparkles and frill that came with it. Holiday decor could put anyone in a good mood. And they both needed a good mood after the election results.

Even Nigel was in a foul mood after the results. He’d seen shitty heads of state in Romania, growing up. He knew what came next. It was fucking sickening. He looked overhead at a bunch of plastic plants that hung in a doorway, then at his husband. “A little fucking bit, baby. Did you leave them anything?” Nigel asked, with rough affection.

“No,” Lee admitted with a sly grin. “I bought ‘em out.”

“Atta boy,” Nigel sighed, and kissed Lee on the lips with a little smile, then nipped at his lower lip, happy to see him, even if he’d just seen him this morning. “I don’t really do Christmas, but whatever makes you happy, right?”

“I don’t either. I just… really had the impulse to buy and spread a little cheer,  since we  _ can _ this year,” Lee said, leaning into his husband’s kiss for a little longer.

Nigel smiled at that, and nodded, letting their profiles brush gently as he did. “It’s really … fucking colorful, baby,” Nigel said, and kissed Lee again. Lee was almost back to the health he’d been in before he’d become deathly ill. As a result, Nigel found himself less easily annoyed than before. When something pissed him off, he still got hot-headed over it, but after what they’d been through together, Nigel had been gifted with at least a little perspective.

“Lots of snow and dead outside, thought we needed some livening up,” Lee said, content to be with his husband of well over a year now. He rested his forehead against Nigel’s. “That said, I thought it might be fun to go away for Christmas. Get out of here, enjoy the snow and ice in a big room with a fireplace…”

Nigel raised an eyebrow at that, “you wanna get away from the snow here so we can look at snow somewhere else?”

“A ski lodge,” Lee hummed in a sing song tone.

“Ski Lodge?” Nigel scoffed, and tried hard not to be charmed by Lee’s big blue eyes framed by feathery, dark lashes. “What the fuck are we going to do at a fucking ski lodge?”

“Ski,” Lee chuckled, wrapping his arms around Nigel’s firm middle, gazing up at him. “And drink lots of wine.”

“Do I look like someone who fucking skis?” Nigel asked, gruffly.

“Do  _ I _ ?” Lee asked right back, still smiling up at his husband. “You’ve said in the past that we should just do the things we’ve never done. This is my second chance.”

Nigel sighed. That was Lee’s iron-clad way of getting exactly what he wanted, every time. It was his second chance, one they almost lost. “Okay, so … where, exactly? Switzerland, or some shit?”

“No, we can stay local,” Lee insisted. “My brother has a place up north from here, nice, secluded so we get privacy, and then when we want to people watch, we go to a lodge a few miles down the road.”

Nigel thought it over. Alone together in some cabin was better than crammed together in a resort full of rich idiots Nigel would want to strangle. “How long?”

“However long. My brother said he was busy working,” Lee explained, spreading his hands across the expanse of Nigel’s chest.

“Okay,” Nigel sighed as Lee’s hands spread over his chest, unable to resist the way Lee almost petted him as he batted his blue eyes. “A few days, but if there’s a bunch of rich assholes up there … no.”

“Then we go to our peaceful little cabin, drink wine, and fuck,” Lee promised, brows raised with certainty.

Nigel’s full lips curved into a slow, devilish smile at that, and he nuzzled Lee’s face with a sigh. “Well, that doesn’t sound so fucking bad,” Nigel admitted, and kissed Lee deeply for the thought.

“Good. I bought us some snow gear!” Lee pulled back, tugging Nigel’s large hand toward the chair with all the goodies laid out on it.

Nigel let Lee tug him toward the loaded down chair, and laughed at the puffy, warm, thick looking clothes on it. “Holy shit, baby. We’re not going to the north fucking pole, are we?” he asked, fingering a sleeve of a jacket.

“No, but it’s cold,” Lee said, holding up the black ski jacket for Nigel.

“They didn’t have any leather jackets?” Nigel asked, with a skeptical look at the coat that looked like a big-ass blanket, with sleeves and a hood.

“Leather will get ruined in the snow.” Lee rolled his eyes, and unzipped it. “Just put it on, I need to know I got the right size.”

Nigel sighed, and took the ridiculously big coat, then shrugged it on, and held his arms out like a kid in his first parka. “I’m wearing a pillow, basically…” How the fuck was anyone supposed to take him seriously in this?

“Would you rather just wear your leather jacket and ruin it? Or a just a sweater and freeze?” Lee asked, brows furrowed as he smoothed down the jacket.

“I don’t wear fucking  _ sweaters _ ,” Nigel laughed, and watched Lee’s hands smooth down the coat that made Nigel feel like the stay-puffed marshmallow man.

“Then you have a choice to make.” Lee inched his fingers under the jacket, skimming over Nigel’s stomach.

Nigel grunted, and tried not to smile when Lee touched his stomach like that. Lee had a way of charming Nigel out of and into things that Nigel had never experienced before. It was almost fucking scary. “We’ll see.”

“I’ll pack it, anyway,” Lee hummed and helped Nigel out of the jacket and folded it back over the chair.

“You’re wearing one, too, right?” Nigel asked, and ran his hand down Lee’s back, affectionate, even if Lee wanted to stuff him into a stupid looking coat.

Lee held up a much smaller version of the same jacket. “Yes, see? Mine. We’re matching!”

“We’re wearing fucking matching  _ couple _ snowsuits?” Nigel asked, with an incredulous laugh.

Lee’s face fell a little. “You don’t like it…” He dropped the jacket down, frowning, looking at it, and then at the strewn bags from Macy’s. At least he kept the receipt.

“No, baby, it’s okay,” Nigel sighed. Lee’s damn face always broke his heart when he did that. Lee was harder to say no to than Beauty, for fuck’s sake. “They’re black jackets, it’s fine.”

It wasn’t just jackets, they had pants and boots, and everything. “It’s okay. We can return them. I’ll get another color.”

Lee’s big, blue eyes pulled at the heart Nigel wasn’t even sure he had until they’d fallen for each other. “Black is good, baby, just leave ‘em,” he reassured his sensitive husband as Beauty walked in from the bedroom from her nap, and wagged as she trotted over to greet Nigel.

Apprehensive, Lee set everything into a bag as Beauty distracted Nigel. “There’s the princess.”

“There’s my girl,” Nigel chuckled as he petted Beauty’s ears, and scratched her chin, then watched Lee. “Don’t take them back, baby. It’s fine. Black’s a shitload better than bright blue, or something.”

“You can keep yours. I’ll get a blue one,” Lee insisted, somehow having thought they might be  _ that _ sort of couple. He packed away the one he bought for himself and left Nigel’s out. “I don’t want you to feel… weird.”

Nigel sighed, and went to the kitchen to get a drink. He poured two fingers of something amber into a glass, and took a swallow before he came back. “I don’t care if we fucking match, gorgeous.” It wasn’t like he was going to run into anyone he knew, anyway. They were going to some fucking mountain, somewhere.

“Yes you do, or you wouldn’t have laughed or said it,” Lee pointed out. “I have time, I can return mine tomorrow. They had a lot of colors. Maybe green…”

“Blue matches your pretty eyes,” Nigel said, adoringly, as he walked back to Lee with another swallow of his drink, and touched Lee’s jaw with one hand, sweet-talking him out of fretting over the damn jackets.

“So you do want me to get the blue instead?” Lee confirmed, gazing up at Nigel, just wanting their vacation away to be perfect.

“For you? Yeah. You look like a fucking angel in blue,” Nigel purred, and slid his palm against Lee’s ass, admiring him as he finished his drink. He’d seen Lee waste away, and still wanted to stare at him all damn day. Now that Lee was healthy again, Nigel couldn’t look enough.

Lee kept his jacket in the bag to return and scooted it aside and snuggled up to Nigel’s side. “When do you want to go? Will says anytime is fine. Closer to Christmas...?”

“I’ve got things under control in the city,” Nigel said, and wrapped his long arms around Lee’s shoulders to keep him pressed close. “Closer to Christmas, sure. We don’t have any fucking reason to stick around. No turkey dinners,” he chuckled. He’d never celebrated Christmas. It was just another day.

They had no family or friends anyway to share it all with, just each other. Lee gave in and hugged Nigel tightly. “I’ll set something up then.”

“I guess I should get you a present,” Nigel smirked, not quite willing to let go of Lee just yet. Lee fit into his arms, perfectly, like they were custom carved for one another.

Lee shook his head, hair still kept short, but a little longer than he used to. “No presents.”

“Okay, fair enough,” Nigel nodded, and touched Lee’s hair, admiring the little curl that started to grow at the ends of it. “No fucking presents.”

“You still being here is gift enough,” Lee insisted, with a little smirk, eyes warming at the way Nigel touched him like that.

“Still being here? What the fuck does that mean? Where did you think I was going?” Nigel asked, a little defensive at that.

“Most people would have left a long time ago because it was too hard, and you… you just kept trying to fix it. I’m thankful for that,” Lee insisted, palming his hands down Nigel’s chest, undoing one of the buttons with a hum.

Nigel smiled as his husband undid his shirt, to reveal his chest hair beneath. Lee had a thing for it… “I’m not a fucking weakling,” he purred, letting Lee do as he liked.

They had had their moments of breaking down over it though, but they prevailed, and here they were. Lee undid a few more buttons, licking his bottom lip, eyes trailing over the ashen colored revealed chest hair. “Oh… I know you aren’t, my bear.”

Nigel smiled a little wider, and pulled his half-undone shirt off, over his head, tossing it on the floor behind him. “Is that what you wanted, baby?”

“Yes, yes this is good,” Lee grinned, lighting his eyes that grew darker with lust. He ran his fingers through the thicket of hair over Nigel’s pectorals, and then down the trail of it to his hips.

Nigel cupped Lee’s face again, and kissed him hard as he tangled their tongues together, his own tasting like harsh liquor. He backed Lee toward their bedroom, shuffling their feet as they moved, slowly.

Undoing Nigel’s pants as he walked backwards, Lee reached into his husband’s pants, grasping his thick cock with a groan. “I missed you…” he whispered against Nigel’s mouth, between heated, long strokes of tongue and nipping lips and teeth.

Nigel was already half-hard, just from Lee’s hands on his chest. He slid his hands down Lee’s back, and under his shirt, scratching at his skin under the fabric as they moved into the bedroom. “Fucking missed you, too, baby,” he moaned, utterly addicted to everything about Lee.

Lee pushed Nigel’s pants to the ground and stroked him slowly, root to tip as he sucked Nigel’s bottom lip into his mouth, scraping teeth against the sensitive inside. “Mm, this for me?” he flirted, dropping back onto the bed and pulling his husband with him.

Nigel’s cock was stiff now, starting to seep at the tip as he crawled over Lee, to kiss and bite his neck, sucking at his pale skin until bruises bloomed under his mouth. “Always for you, baby.”

Thumbing over the wet tip, Lee let out groan, stretching his neck back to give Nigel a better canvas. “Good, I’m selfish.”

Nigel hummed, and bit down harder over Lee’s pulse, then undid his jeans for him, and peeled them off of Lee’s ass and hips to free him. “Be as fucking selfish with me as you want,” Nigel groaned, and stripped Lee’s shirt off of him, quickly.

Lee wriggled out of the pants when helped and pushed his sweater and shirt off, both perfectly naked now. “I only plan to be for the rest of our lives.”

“Good fucking thing,” Nigel moaned, and moved down to suck Lee’s pink nipple as he twisted the other one with his fingers, torturing him gently with teeth and tongue.

“My bear,” Lee groaned, running his fingers through coarse hair between Nigel’s legs, to his balls where he squeezed gently.

Nigel groaned, deeply, and rocked his hips against Lee’s hand as his dark eyes closed for a moment. “Fuck, that’s nice,” he growled, and bit Lee’s nipple harder, tugging it with his teeth. Nigel’s hand wandered down to Lee’s cock again, and stroked it.

Lee let out a soft sigh, gasping into the air, eyes on Nigel as his free hand carded through his ashen, silvery hair, tugging gently. “Wanted you since you left this morning…”

“Really?” Nigel moaned, and looked up at Lee, breathless with lust. Lee’s nipples were reddened now, and hard. Nigel applied his vicious mouth to Lee’s other nipple, and bit it, tugging harder as he squeezed his cock.

“Harder-” Lee begged, spread his thighs to bring Nigel in closer, to get him to stop teasing, and yet Lee  _ loved _ it.

Nigel moved between Lee’s legs, and rolled their hips together. They were a writhing mess of hands and legs, blushing, aroused skin and sweat. He tugged Lee’s nipple harder, then spanked the side of Lee’s ass with one hand, panting. “Bossy…”

The younger man groaned, lifting his ass a little higher for another smack. “Terribly bossy…”

Nigel chuckled at Lee’s eagerness for another spanking, and teased him with a drag of his blunt nails over Lee’s pale ass before he slapped it again. “What am I going to fucking do with you?” he purred, and ground against Lee’s ass. Clearly, Nigel had a few ideas.

Lee bit his own bottom lip, gazing up at Nigel with eyes that were more dark and blue now, pre-come seeping from the tip of his cock. “Punish me… fuck me…”

“Christ, look at you,”  Nigel moaned, gazing at Lee with astounded lust. He reached for the lube on the bedside table, and drenched his cock in it. “Just like this? No fingers first, baby?”

“Well, if you want to…” Lee grinned, breathlessly, spreading his thighs further, ass tilted up for Nigel.

Nigel heaved Lee’s gorgeous runner’s legs over his shoulders, and rubbed his slick cock against Lee’s ass before he pressed himself in with a loud, shaky moan. Watching Lee’s expression was almost as good as the feeling of breaching him. Lee’s mouth dropped open and he moaned, writhing down on Nigel’s cock, hips hiked.

“Fuck, baby,” Nigel gasped, and grabbed Lee’s narrow hips, then pulled them down over himself, slowly. Nigel’s ashy hair fell over his eyes as he bowed his head, and then rocked his hips into Lee when he was all the way inside him. “So good.”

Lee grasped his hands at the back of Nigel’s neck, lifting himself a little higher, breathing with him as their bodies started to heat with friction and pleasure. “Right there, fuck…”

Lee was bent in half now, and Nigel slid his large hands over the taut, round flesh of Lee’s ass as he fucked him. “Lee-” he groaned, panting between reddened lips as he began to pound himself inside Lee’s body.

Lee shook with need as his body started to wind up like clock, ready to spring undone any minute now. “Nigel-” he gasped, gripping his shoulders tighter.

“Always so tight,” Nigel snarled with a shudder of sheer want, and rolled them over in the bed so that Lee was on top of him this time, straddling his hips. “I want to watch you ride my cock.”

Lee grinned down at Nigel, hands on his chest as he worked his pert ass down and around the other man’s cock, swiveling his hips to get it in deep. “Like this?”

“Fuck, yes,” Nigel gasped, and helped Lee ride him with two hands on his slim hips. “Look at you, sexiest fucking thing I’ve ever seen…”

As Lee fucked himself on Nigel’s perfect cock, his own slapped on Nigel’s stomach with each downward movement against his hips. “Fuck, good… Love feeling you in me…”

“Lean back…” Nigel whispered, and ran one hand down Lee’s flat stomach, then gripped his cock and started to stroke him, slowly. “Perfect…”

All lean muscle stretched back and Lee felt Nigel’s cock shoved further up himself, pressed tight into that perfect, sweet spot. “Oh fuck…”

“Good, good-” Nigel moaned, rutting into Lee from underneath, his heart pounding and his head spinning with desire. “Come on, baby…” he moaned, still stroking Lee steadily, thumb against the slit of his head.

Lee started to pan and writhe, squirming over Nigel with each and every stroke of hand on his cock and the cock up inside of him tapping relentlessly on his prostate. “I’m…” he trailed, fingers gripped hard into Nigel’s chest as warmth spread and then pooled in his lower back.

“That’s it, baby, let go,” Nigel moaned, his breath becoming short and fast as he began to chant in Romanian, and his eyes closed, hips arching off the bed.

Lee started to come, his body throbbing as he spurt streams of pearly come all over Nigel’s stomach and fingers, tensed tight around Nigel, working him over. “Nigel!”

“Fuck, fuck-” Nigel moaned, and pried his eyes open to watch Lee orgasm, which sent him reeling over the edge. He swore in his native tongue and gasped out long, breathless curses as his cock erupted inside Lee’s hot, tight body, shaking all over.

Shaking, Lee finally came to stop and fell over Nigel, gazing down at him with exhausted blue eyes, and kissed the corner of his mouth. “I love watching you come.”

“Same thing,” Nigel smirked, and reached a shaking, sweaty hand up to Lee’s hair, stroking his fingers over it before he kissed him back. “Could watch you forever…”

Even when they did this everyday, Lee never tired of Nigel, and he knew he never would. “I love you,” he whispered, cupping Nigel’s face.

“Love you too, baby. Always will,” Nigel promised, and took one of Lee’s hands, then kissed all of the tips of his fingers as he looked up at him. “Even if you get us matching snow-shit.”

Lee rolled his eyes. “I’m taking mine back! I thought it was… you know, cute? I was wrong.”

Nigel just kissed Lee’s lips, now that they’d caught their breath, “Blue’s your color anyway, baby.”

“You’re only saying that so we won’t match. I get it,” Lee whispered, knowingly, against Nigel’s lips.

“No, I fucking mean it,” Nigel laughed, and nipped at Lee’s lips as Beauty trotted into the room, and hopped up on the bed to lay beside them, wagging.

“Alright, so you mean it.” Lee reached over to pet Beauty, and then kissed Nigel once more before crawling off of him to go clean up in the bathroom.

“I fucking mean everything,” Nigel called after Lee as he watched his ass on the way out. “You went running today?”

“Yeah, I did,” Lee said, over his shoulder from the bathroom, which echoed his reply out to Nigel. “Why?”

“That ass of yours is getting rounder by the day,” Nigel hummed, admiringly.

Lee cleaned up and walked back in, standing in the doorway, “Been keeping track of my ass?”

“If I ever lost my chest hair, you’d keep a fucking tally of all of them in your phone,” Nigel smirked, and stretched out, reaching for Lee to come back to bed.

Lee stretched and then crawled over the bed to Nigel, and laid on top of him. “I’d make sure you had chest hair plugs.”

Nigel burst out laughing at that, loud and full, and pulled Lee to his chest to hold him there, “Hair plugs are for gross old men.”

“You’re definitely not gross,” Lee teased, tangling his fingers into Nigel’s chest hair, grinning down at him.

“But I’m old?” Nigel asked with a smirk, well aware that he had some silver hair, and a few lines on his face.

“Older than me,” Lee said, and kissed Nigel sweetly. They didn’t talk about the age difference, it’s never come up and they definitely didn’t talk about birthdays either. They survived together through Lee’s cancer, and that was enough.

“Yeah. You always had a thing for older men?” Nigel asked, softly, and hooked his leg over Lee’s where they lay in bed, relaxing and chatting like they usually did after sex.

“Not really, no age preference, just hairy and big,” Lee chuckled, resting against Nigel, completely in love with him.

Nigel smiled a bit, and kissed the top of Lee’s head. “You definitely have a type, baby. Or had, you’re taken now, for life.” He ran his fingers over Lee’s ring, admiring the lively, fiery sparkle in the stones.

“I have no qualms with that,” Lee insisted, snuggling down into Nigel, letting his head rest against his chest, listening to his heart.

“Ever think you’d let yourself get tied down to one guy?” Nigel asked, and started to rub Lee’s shoulders with his hands, slowly. He used to do this when Lee was skin and bones, it was reassuring to feel strength on him again.

“Nope, but I also knew that inevitably, I would die before I found anyone. You proved that wrong,” Lee whispered.

“Damn right I did,” Nigel whispered. “Nothing’s taking you away from me until we’re too old to fuck anymore,” he teased.

“That’s the stipulation? Until we can’t fuck anymore?” Lee laughed, running his hands up Nigel’s arms slowly.

“Well, that’s going to be a long, long time,” Nigel smirked, and basked in Lee’s affectionate touch.

“You’re not going to be too old for that soon?” Lee grinned, nosing his face into Nigel’s chest where he rested.

Nigel grunted, and flicked the back of Lee’s neck with his fingers, “bite your fucking tongue.”

“I’ll bite yours,” Lee snapped as he lifted his head to bite playfully at Nigel’s mouth.

Nigel groaned, and kissed Lee’s mouth into stillness instead, then rolled him over in bed and wound their tongues together before he pulled back just enough to speak, “brat.”

Lee had a kissed stupid look on his face when their mouths parted, grinning madly up at his husband. “Your brat. Who still has to go back to Macy’s to return his coat before they close.”

“Want me to go with you?” Nigel offered, and petted Lee’s short, slightly messy hair with his fingers.

“Do  _ you _ want to come with me?” Lee asked, gazing up at his beautiful, honey eyed bear.

“Yeah, spent enough time away from you today,” Nigel sighed, smiling a little at how fucking sappy Lee made him.

“You have. Just look what I’ve done while you’re gone?” Lee laughed, gesturing above them at the sparkly garland that was draped over their otherwise very calm bedroom.

“Jesus fucking Christ, I didn’t notice you got it in here, too,” Nigel sighed, and looked at the festooned ceiling in shades of gold and green over their heads. “Yeah. I’m coming with you.”

“You cannot leave me alone to shop all day,” Lee pouted and then grinned devilishly, sliding out from under Nigel to find his clothes.

“No, I really fucking can’t, you’re a menace,” Nigel grunted as he watched Lee, and slid out of bed slowly, then stretched, which made his shoulder and back joints pop, loudly.

Lee pulled on his jeans and his shirt, then his sweater, not bothering with any underwear, and then found clean socks and his sneakers. “I could very well come back with another tree and a gazillion ornaments.”

Nigel put on a pair of jeans and a shirt covered in dogs, then left the shirt mostly unbuttoned for his husband’s amusement. “No.”

Lee canted his head at Nigel, doing up his own sweater buttons, and then walked over to trace circles into Nigel’s hair on his chest where he could see it. “Well when you ask so nicely…”

Nigel smirked, and raised his chin, letting Lee pet his patch of dense chest hair all he wanted to. “We’ve got enough Christmas shit, baby, and we won’t even be here for it.”

“We can always decorate Will’s cabin…” Lee said in a sing-song tone, nibble a kiss against Nigel’s jaw.

“I’m sure he’d fucking love that,” Nigel muttered with a smirk, and gave Lee’s ass a little smack before walking out with him. Beauty just sighed and stretched out over the whole bed.

Lee picked up his jacket on the way and the snow jacket to return as well, stuffing it into the bag more. He tossed Nigel his keys. “I know, I know…. He’d hate it.”

“For twins, you two can’t be more fucking different,” Nigel said, as he waited for Lee near the elevator, and spun the keys around one finger.

Lee hummed; “We’re more alike than you think. We just have different ways of expressing ourselves.”

“He expresses himself by not talking to anyone and you make our place look like an elf puked glitter all the fuck over it?” Nigel teased.

Lee rolled his eyes and snuggled into Nigel’s side as the elevator went down. “It’s been a long time since I celebrated and decorated. Buddhists are minimal. Just because I am doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the decorations,” he reasoned with a sly smirk.

“Reminds me of Vegas,” Nigel said with a smirk, and wrapped an arm around Lee as they descended together.

“Never been,” Lee stated, leaning into Nigel a little more. He used to be carefree soul, someone who couldn’t be bolted down by a relationship, didn’t care about holidays… But looking death in the eye and coming back from it, well that changed a lot of perspective for Lee.

“We should go, sometime. It’s not bad,” Nigel said as the doors opened. They nodded at the guards, and stepped out into the parkade, toward Nigel’s car.

“Is it as smokey as they say?” Lee was careful where they went and how long he stayed around anything that might just trigger the cancer back, no matter how ridiculous.

“Smokey?” Nigel asked, and opened the door for Lee. “No, it’s like any fucking where else.”

“But they allow smoking in the casinos,” Lee pointed out. “Smokey.” He got in, always allowing Nigel to help him.

“Huh, maybe. Didn’t notice when I was there…” Nigel’s time in Vegas had been spent in shadier areas than casinos. He backed out of their parking spot, and headed out of the underground lot.

“I’m surprised,” Lee laughed, rubbing his hands on his thighs.

Nigel stole a look at the way Lee rubbed his thighs, then pulled into traffic with a squeal of his tires. “Think I’d be in a casino all day?”

“Drinking, yes. Smoking, yes.” Lee shook his head. “Maybe even looking at the girls once upon a time.”

“I had work to do, no time for any of that,” Nigel huffed, and rubbed his palm over Lee’s thigh as he smirked over at him.

“Really? You’re more of stick in the mud than  I thought,” Lee teased, gliding his hand over Nigel’s, fitting their fingers together.

“Not a fucking stick in the mud, I had to kill a lot of assholes,” Nigel laughed. “My work was all I had for a while after I came here. I had to fight my way up … and maybe a little of everything else after,” Nigel admitted.

“So you didn’t once go into one of the strip clubs and get a dance?” Lee asked, curiously, raising his brows over at his husband.

Nigel laughed at that, and gave Lee a look. “Do I look like I’ve ever had to pay money for fucking attention a day in my life?” he pointed out.

Lee rolled his blue eyes and pinched Nigel’s belly with his free hand. “No, but that’s not saying you’d get free lap dances.”

Nigel just shrugged at that, and looked at his husband. “Stop pinching my fucking stomach,” he grumbled, and turned a corner.

“I’d give you free lap dances,” Lee said, mostly to himself as he took his hand back, leaning it against the door instead.

Nigel gave his flirty husband an interested look, one eyebrow raised. “Really?”

“Really,” Lee said, head cocked to the side.

“Didn’t know that was something you were good at,” Nigel said, as he looked his husband over, and shifted the car.

“Never asked.” Lee laughed, smirking at Nigel. “Dollar Beer night at the bear bar down the street from where I used to live. Get enough in me, there’d be stories for later.”

Nigel shot him a little look, his mouth quirked to the side in a thin line as his eyes flashed darker, “Stories I probably don’t want to fucking know about…”

Lee squeezed Nigel’s thigh, affectionately. “Probably not. Let’s just say I like to dance. I’ll show you. Maybe.”

Nigel knew damn well he was a jealous man. The last thing he needed was the thought of Lee grinding on some other guy, but now it was there, in his head, and he couldn’t get it out. “Hm.”

Lee had not even looked at another man since the day he laid eyes on Nigel, and that was saying a lot for a man like Lee. He sighed, and slipped his hand up Nigel’s thigh. “My bear… please don’t think too much into it. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“I’m not fucking upset,” Nigel said, with a shift of his strong jaw as he made himself stop grinding his teeth.

Opening his mouth to say something else, Lee shut it again abruptly, deciding that he would not make this better if he kept talking. He remained silent until they arrived at Macy’s, and then he got out and grabbed the bag with his return.

Nigel was stone silent, and seething inside. He knew it was fucking irrational, but he couldn’t help the boiling, seething jealousy that started to run through his veins like lava. He glared after Lee when Lee got out of the car, and got out himself, closing the door hard.

“Not fucking upset?” Lee asked, looking at Nigel and waiting for him to catch up, and then he took his hand as they walked into the store.

Nigel sighed through his nose. His hand was actually hot to the touch, and his chest and neck were flushed with emotion. He let Lee take his hand, however, and wrapped his fingers around Lee’s, possessively. “Just not … fucking happy, okay?” Nigel muttered.

“You don’t like hearing about my past. I won’t bring it up again,” Lee said, diplomatically. He was used to being so open, even after a year of marriage, but sometimes things slipped out when he knew not to say them in front of Nigel.

“I just-” Nigel looked at Lee, still fuming, passionately, “you don’t think- You really wouldn’t be pissed if I told you all the shit I used to do?” His eyes were dark, and sharp, like jagged bits of coal.

“Would it get in the way of what we do now?” Lee asked, honestly, making their way through the department store to the coat department to find the color he wanted in his coat.

“Well if you were fucking pissed about it, yes!” Nigel exclaimed, absolutely mystified as to how the fuck Lee could just not give a shit about the thought of him with someone else.

“Why would I be pissed about your  _ past _ ? We all have one, Nigel,” Lee pointed out, looking through the jackets for the dark blue one he saw earlier. “Now, if you’re with someone else and we’re still together, yes, I’ll be pissed.”

“Look, I don’t even like fucking thinking about you with someone else, okay? I just don’t fucking like it, I don’t like picturing it, I don’t fucking like being reminded about it,” Nigel hissed. His stomach was twisting in his stomach, like a snake, and his pulse started to pound in his ears, loudly.

Lee placed a hand on Nigel’s chest, over the patch of hair seen there, and he gazed up into Nigel’s eyes. “I won’t mention it again.”

Nigel’s chest was rising and falling quickly under Lee’s hand, and his throat squeezed as he swallowed, silent for a minute as he stared at Lee, and took a deep breath, trying to calm down. A man stopped his shopping to stare at them, and Nigel narrowed his eyes at him. “What the  _ fuck _ are you staring at!?” he snarled, which set the man hurrying off.

“Don’t mind him,” Lee said to Nigel, bringing his glare back to his eyes instead. “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. Please calm down.”

Lee was looking at Nigel like he was fucking crazy … or at least that’s how Nigel felt. Lee couldn’t be  _ human _ not to be jealous and pissed at the thought of Nigel’s former flings, his exes … He just nodded, sure that if he spoke again, he’d just go off, and Lee was trying to get him to act calm.

Deciding to make it quick, Lee just picked out the green coat instead and took it quickly to the counter to exchange it. The girl got to it, and five minutes later, Lee had a coat he  _ didn’t _ like, but at least they were leaving.

Nigel was quiet, but still fuming, his throat tight and his heart pounding as his mind fixated on the thought of Lee with some asshole with a hairy chest. Maybe that was all Lee liked about him, anyway. Maybe he was just the one to stick around, Nigel thought, starting to spiral into a tar-black pit of the worst his mind could dredge up from it’s depths.

Lee took Nigel’s hand as they walked back out to the car. He wasn’t like his brother Will, he couldn’t feel his way around anything, or anyone, but he knew when Nigel was seething. “I don’t like when you’re angry at me.”

Nigel still opened Lee’s door for him, as he always did, and held it as Lee got inside while he tried to ignore the thoughts that clawed at the inside of his mind, and left bloodied gouges. Lee settled for him, Lee didn’t want to be married to him. Who the fuck would want to stay married to him, anyhow, for fuck’s sake? Lee probably wanted to be out there grinding on guy after guy in bear bars.

Nigel closed Lee’s door, and got in the driver’s side, closing his door before he started the car. “I’m not fucking  _ … trying _ to be pissed,” he said, in a clipped voice, his head starting to ache from the pounding of his pulse.

“Take a deep breath and let it out slowly,” Lee tried to help, but he knew when Nigel got like this, he could do nothing to help, as the man got lost in his own seething. Lee had hoped they were close enough that they could speak freely, but they weren’t there, it seemed. “Just in and out, slowly, take a minute to clear your head…” Lee’s voice was soothing, calm, reflecting none of the fear and upset he really felt.

“I  _ know _ how to fucking breathe,” Nigel muttered, but took a deep breath through his nose, which just came out in an embarrassing shaking sound that made him bite the inside of his own cheek until it bled in his mouth.

Lee frowned and sat back closer to the door at that. “I’m just trying to help…”

The shake was just the start of what was under the anger, and Nigel swallowed hard over a lump in his throat, and then backed the car out of it’s space, heading home. “Yeah, I know,” he managed. Inside, he was squeezing the life out of what he felt instead of letting it out around Lee. He needed a drink. A few fucking drinks.

“If you want to talk, I’m here,” Lee offered, but kept to himself the rest of the trip home. Once there, he got out, just as before with his new jacket. He nodded at the security, but the smile on his face didn’t reach his eyes as he pressed in his thumbprint to scan for the doors.

The guards took a step back when Nigel neared them, and averted their eyes as he stepped into the elevator, able to tell when the boss was … unapproachable. People who spoke to him when he was like this ended up dead.    
  
Nigel stepped in when the door opened, and waited for Lee, jaw tight as he tried breathing slowly. It only felt like it was making it harder to breathe, like there was a belt around his chest, squeezing. Fucking maddening. 

Under the brittle, white-hot crust of jealous rage waited a thick, dark, heavy depression. Nigel could feel it waiting to pull him under, and just wanted to get upstairs.

Lee slipped in, still trying to get close to Nigel, and rested his head on his shoulder. The elevator rose in silence, and then opened again on the top floor, and he stepped out, mind set on wine.

Nigel felt something tug in his chest, hard, when Lee laid his head against Nigel’s shoulder, and he set his hand against Lee’s back, softly, almost sadly. Eyes still dark he bit his lower lip on the inside, and swallowed hard when Lee stepped out to walk into the penthouse.    
  
Nigel followed slowly, and headed straight for the glass shelf of booze, pouring a tall glass of what he had earlier, then drank half of it in a swallow that burned the sludge of his feelings away for a glorious moment. “Told you … I’m the jealous type.”

“I know. My fault. I kept on and I shouldn’t have,” Lee said, quietly, going to the wall with the wine, and opened up the door, slipping inside to pick something out. He wanted something light, it was afternoon after all, but a jammy zin was calling his name instead. He stepped back out and started to open the wine, pulling down one glass.

Nigel watched Lee, and took another swallow to drain his glass. His head felt a little lighter, and Nigel poured himself another glass, then downed half of that, and stared into the glass. “I’m kind of an asshole.”

“You’re my asshole,” Lee insisted, pouring a full glass of wine for himself, leaving the bottle for now. “And you aren’t that bad. You’ve been so sweet to me, so kind, and giving.”

Nigel’s eyes were dull when they looked up at Lee, and held his gaze as he listened to what Lee said, but found it hard to fucking believe. “I gave you shit you could have bought yourself.”

“But I wouldn’t have. You helped me find reason to live, to  _ keep _ living.” Lee swirled his wine and smelled it, then took a small sip, humming. He swallowed. “I knew before I met you I didn’t have much longer. I didn’t have anything to hold on to. You gave me every reason to hold on. Not just things, either, Nigel. You. Everything about you, even this… jealousy. It means you love me.”

Nigel dumped the fourth half of a glass of whiskey down his throat, and poured more with a sigh. Lee was trying so fucking hard. It was … sweet. “I do fucking love you, baby,” Nigel said, looking right into Lee’s eyes as he said it, able to feel his heart twisting, bruised and beaten from the lashing he had given himself earlier.  “Love just … makes me sort of fucking insane,” he muttered, with a dry laugh before he took a long swallow of the booze in his glass. “I’m … I get fucking pissed at myself, you know? Doesn’t make any fucking sense. I’m like a rabid dog trying to bite shadows on the wall-” Nigel was starting to slur a little, already, but relaxed.

They had been drunk before, but this was getting beyond that with Nigel. Lee swallowed, and set his glass down, taking his husband's hands in his own, forcing him to put his glass down. “I love you. There is no one I want other than you. You changed me, Nigel. I can't go back to before and I don't want to either.”

Nigel took a deep breath, and closed his eyes when Lee spoke, then opened them to look at him. “You don’t want to?” he asked, quietly, with a dry swallow that tasted like whiskey fumes. “You don’t fucking miss that now that you’re better?”

“No. I was reckless then, I wasn't really happy. You are my happiness. Our life together,” Lee explained calmly, not letting go of Nigel's hands.

Nigel shifted his jaw to the side, and bit his lower lip, then curled his fingers into Lee’s. “I’ve had to _ fight _ for every fucking thing I have,” he muttered, and sighed. “Once I got what I have, I’ve had to defend it. I’m not used to relaxing and taking shit for granted.”

“You were doing okay until I said something stupid. You aren't going to lose me. We didn't fight together for my life and our life together for me to be stupid enough to take it for granted,” Lee explained. He hadn't settled, he had taken a chance on something good, something he never thought he'd find.

Nigel sighed deeply, and leaned his head against Lee’s, with his eyes closed, one hand behind Lee’s head to hold him there, gently. “This is why I told myself I wasn’t going to bother with anyone,” he whispered, “I fly off the fucking handle. I know, I know. I fucking did it with Gabi, too.”

Nigel’s silvery hair slipped in front of his eyes in strands, and his lashes caught the low light in the festively decorated kitchen.

“I'm not Gabi,” Lee said, quietly, moving Nigel's hair out of his eyes. “I'm not leaving.” Maybe Lee didn't like hearing her name... just a little, but he would never say that. Maybe the reason was because she was female. Maybe not.

Nigel nodded, and leaned forward, just a little, kissing Lee very gently, brushing their lips together almost shyly. “Sorry, baby.”

Lee let out a breath he wasn’t aware he’d held until Nigel relented and kissed him. He sighed heavily, and wrapped his arms around Nigel’s shoulders, brushing their noses together. “I hate when you get mad at me.”

“Wasn’t mad at you, baby … just…” Nigel gestured, and waved his hand, inarticulate. “Just … mad. Mad at the assholes you used to dance for, I guess.”

“Dance with, not for. I wasn’t a stripper,” Lee chuckled lightly. “In any case, none of them ever mattered, only you.”

“Mhm,” Nigel hummed, and reached for his glass again, with one hand. People lied all the time, he knew that. Lee would lie to him to make him feel better.

It was clear Nigel would never believe him, no matter what Lee said or did. On his last thread, Lee opted to pull away, taking up his wine glass and the bottle, and wandered out to the garden, to the swing.

Nigel watched Lee walk out, and poured another drink. Maybe he shouldn’t have let himself get so fucking attached, he thought as he downed half the glass, then the other half, and followed Lee, slowly.

The brunet was sitting on the large, wooden hammock that overlooked the now frozen zen pond on the terrace garden. Lee was swinging, shoes off at the foot of it, his toes dragging the cool ground with each pass, sipping wine. Lee had no idea how prove loyalty more than he had already, he even turned a blind eye to Nigel getting rid of Martin.

Nigel, or at least the part of him beyond his confidence that he never let anyone see, was not sure anyone in the world was really loyal. But, Lee was the best person he’d ever met. Nigel leaned one shoulder against a pillar, and watched Lee sit on the hammock, glass in hand. “Think I’m crazy, don’t you?”

“No,” Lee said, looking out over the view of the zen garden Nigel had put in for him to meditate, which he used every morning when his husband went off to work. He was starting to wish he’d done a little more of it today. “I think you’re afraid. I think  you’ve been hurt a lot, in everything. I think you love me and don’t want to lose me, but can’t help but push me away anyway.” Lee blinked, looking over at Nigel. “I’m stubborn, you can push all you want, but I’m going to be here, stuck to you. A little… “ he huffed a strangled sounding chuckle “... bluebird on your shoulder. Pestering you.”

Nigel managed a little, drunken smile at that, and pushed himself from where he leaned against a pillar with a smooth movement, then sauntered to Lee, and sat next to him in the big wooden hammock-swing. “Maybe that’s what I fucking need,” he admitted, in a soft, deep voice.

Lee looked at his wine and then downed half of it, swallowing it before he leaned back in the hammock to lay down and watch Nigel, his profile, admiringly, no matter how discouraged he felt right now with not being able to get through to the one person that meant everything to him. “Maybe.”

Nigel laid back with Lee, both of them looking at one another as the sun set around them, and the breeze picked up. “I’m not mad at you, little bird.”

“Your energy said otherwise,” Lee said, but not with the intent to argue, but to point out that if Nigel was angry, he needed to place it well and not on the person he loved.

Nigel stretched his arm out to the side, and slipped it behind Lee’s head as he finished his final full glass of whiskey, thoroughly drunk by now, the bottle gone in the kitchen. “I was mad, yeah, pissed,” Nigel admitted, “at myself, mostly. I get jealous, then I get pissed at whatever, then I get  _ fucking pissed off that I’m pissed off  _ and I only stop it by drinking a bottle of something or … used to be drugs, shooting someone, whatever.”

“I’m all for drinking away the pain, but you have me now to talk to,” Lee said, more than aware that Nigel was a belligerent drunk, and may not even remember this later.

“I’m not going to go do something fucking stupid,” Nigel assured his husband, and planted a kiss against Lee’s temple. “I don’t want to, I want to stay home, with you.”

“I should hope so, you’re drunk,” Lee pointed out and snuggled into Nigel’s side, curling up under his arm, and sipped his wine.

“Maybe we both changed,” Nigel sighed, and wrapped his arm around Lee’s slender shoulders, tightly. “Never happy just staying in, before,” he sighed, then looked at Lee. “You ever been to a shrink?”

“Yes. A few times. They make it mandatory for some of the trials I was on,” Lee explained, softly, sipping the last bit of his wine. He leaned over to get the bottle and poured the rest into his glass.

Nigel brushed his fingertips over the soft ends of Lee’s hair, and folded Lee’s cold little feet in between his jean-covered calves to keep them warm. “Did it help, or was it just bullshit?”

“I moved to meditation for a reason. It didn’t work for me,” Lee said, nuzzling himself against Nigel. “It helps for some.”

“I think my therapist would need a fucking therapist,” Nigel chuckled, darkly. There were things he didn’t tell anyone, Things he would never tell anyone just because he couldn’t bring himself to relive it, even if it left him with a tendency to rage at any hint that his husband had ever wanted anyone else. He’d fucking deal with it, somehow.

“The maybe it’s not for you.” Lee kissed Nigel’s pulse in his neck and then his jaw. “We should get massages together, couples massages.”

“Massages?” Nigel asked, skeptically, raising one eyebrow at Lee at the idea.

Lee laughed; “Okay, you’d hate that, too. Maybe we just give each other massages?”

“Yeah,” Nigel nodded, drunkenly, and rolled a little closer to Lee, gazing at him. “That sounds better,” the Romanian whispered, and nuzzled his nose against Lee’s dark hair.

Lee quickly finished his wine and then set his glass down on the ground, and moved over Nigel, into his lap, gazing down at him, nuzzling their noses together. “Yeah? Want me to rub you down?”

“Right now?” Nigel asked, with a little purr in his unsteady, but deep voice. He considered Lee, then smiled up at him, and stole a kiss from his lips. “Is this some fucking excuse to see my chest hair?” he teased, with a warm sound to his words.

Lee, admittedly, loved Nigel’s chest hair, but it wasn’t about that for once. “No,” he whispered, with some defeat in his tone. “Do you think that’s all I think about?”

Nigel laughed, softly, drunkenly, and shook his head before he pushed himself up to kiss Lee again. “No, little bird.” He started to undo his own shirt, with fumbling, numb fingers.

“Nigel…” Lee whispered, taking his hands, he stopped trying to undress out in the cold, wintery night.

“I’m not cold,” the Romanian huffed, and curled his hands around Lee’s hands, holding them for a moment before he kissed them both, still as romantic in his own way as ever.

“I can’t rub you down out here,” Lee said and stood, carefully, pulling Nigel to his feet to lead him back inside where Beauty watched from the warmth, by the door.

Nigel let Lee pull him up, and left their glasses behind near the wooden hammock as he wrapped his arms around Lee, and kissed his forehead again, suddenly affectionate and soothed. “Where, then?”

“Our bed,” Lee said, leading his drunk husband in, expertly, though he himself was a little tipsy too.

“I like the sound of that …  _ our _ bed,” Nigel mumbled, and let the door close after them as they came inside. Beauty wagged to greet them, and Nigel stopped to pet her head and back for a moment, then straightened again, and rolled his shoulders back.

Lee started to undo the buttons of Nigel’s shirt the rest of the way as he helped him back to the bedroom. “Sit down and get undressed, I’ll find some oil.”

Nigel smiled, and pulled Lee back, into his arms, then kissed him slowly and deeply, bending Lee back a little before Nigel pulled his lips away, then his arms, and undid his shirt, stripping it off, slowly.

The brunet smiled at that, sure that this whole conversation would be forgotten by morning anyway, he set out to the bathroom to find the rubbing oil. He returned a few minutes later, stripped down to nothing as well.

Nigel laid on the bed, shamelessly naked as he stretched out on his back, and smiled over at Lee. “There you are … thought maybe you left…”

“Would I leave you?” Lee asked, honestly, and crawled over on Nigel, straddling his hips, and dotted a drizzle of oil all over his chest.

“I don’t fucking know, maybe to go get oil or something,” Nigel sighed. His accent was thicker when he was drunk, and he looked down at the oil on his skin, the way the soft light in their bedroom caught it.

Lee rolled his eyes and chuckled, rubbing his hands into the oil, and over the coarse hair of Nigel’s chest, thumbs skimming over his nipples as he pressed into the muscle there. “That’s about the only reason.”

Nigel sighed and let his head fall back against the mattress with closed eyes when Lee did that. “Fuck, you’re good at that,” he whispered, able to feel Lee’s thumbs, fingers, and palms working tension out of his chest that he didn’t even know he had.

“Just relax,” Lee whispered, and moved his his neck and shoulders, down his arms, stopping only for a little more oil.

Nigel reacted like a cat in the sun, basking in the feeling of Lee’s hands working all the tension out of his enviable form. “You fucking know what?” Nigel asked, with a smirk, one dark eye open at Lee so that he could see him without a blur around Lee’s gorgeous face.

“What’s that, my bear?” Lee asked, working down on arm with his fingers, slowly, and then massaged Nigel’s palms, before kissing it.

“Never had a fucking massage before,” Nigel said, and brushed his thumb over Lee’s lower lip as he watched him, absolutely in love, all over again. He couldn’t help but adore Lee, Lee was … fearless, and sweet at the same time. His little bird.

“No? I can tell, you’re very tense.” Lee gently scraped his teeth over Nigel’s thumb pad, grinning at him as he worked down the next arm.

“No, just … never fucking bothered with one,” Nigel hummed, and watched Lee with a hungry look. “Wish I had … Christ.”

“You do know not all massages come with me naked and on top of you, right?” Lee winked at his husband, and kissed his fingers before letting his hand fall back to the bed.

“Then I wish I fucking had you a long time ago,” Nigel said, and ran his kissed hand up Lee’s thigh, slowly, caressing him.

“You have me now. What will you do with me?” Lee asked, working his fingers down Nigel’s stomach to his hips, sliding them under his ass and thighs to work out the muscle there too without flipping him just yet.

Nigel licked his lips slowly as he stared at Lee, with dark, twinkling eyes. “Bend you over this bed, and fuck you absolutely senseless,” he promised, with a warm growl to his voice.

“How romantic,” Lee teased, moving his hands to Nigel’s groin, rubbing his fingers into the muscle creases there, over his hip bones.

Nigel arched his hips up, into Lee’s touch. “That’s not what you want?”

“I like fucking,” Lee reassured his husband, “you know that.” His hands roved over Nigel’s stomach as he bent over to ghost his breath against Nigel’s growing erection.

Nigel’s cock twitched at the feeling of Lee’s breath, and he arched his hips again as he palmed Lee’s short hair. “Yeah, I know you do, and I know just how you like it,” Nigel moaned.

“How do I like it?” Lee asked, quietly, his lips brushing over the head of Nigel’s cock, and then he slipped just the tip of his tongue against the hot skin.

“Hot and fast, just painful enough to make you feel fully fucking alive,” Nigel said with a moan, and swore. “You like feeling … _ taken _ .”

Lee hummed his approval, and sucked Nigel down between his pink lips, face flushed from his wine and knowing how well his husband did really know him. He circled his tongue over the slit and sucked, hollowing out his cheeks.

“Christ, Lee … that’s fucking good,” Nigel moaned, fingers curling against Lee’s hair, nails scratching at his scalp.

Taking his time, Lee sucked and lathed his tongue a little longer, tugging on Nigel’s balls with one hand, and then pulled off, licking his own lips. “I swear your cock was made for me,” he whispered, licking the tip one more time.

“And your mouth was made for my cock,” Nigel moaned, then sat up to claim Lee’s pretty, swollen mouth in a hard kiss, cock throbbing now.

“Only yours-” Lee managed to get out before toppling against Nigel into the kiss, hands all over him now, slicked and slippery unable to grip him properly.

Nigel rolled Lee over in bed, and laid on top of him, then pressed his fingers into Lee’s mouth, slowly. “Suck,” he whispered, as he rubbed their cocks together, oiling Lee’s with his own.

Lee sucked Nigel’s perfectly thick fingers into his mouth, nipping and lathing his tongue around the rough pads as he gazed up at him, eyes bright. “Mm…”

Nigel watched as Lee sucked on his fingers, and twisted them slowly against Lee’s tongue before he pulled them out, slowly, and slipped them against his ass. Nigel rocked his fingers, and circled them around Lee’s entrance, then slid them in, slowly. 

“Nigel-” Lee groaned, writhing down against his husband’s fingers, taking him in further and further, until he felt those fingers brush against his prostate sweetly.

Nigel kissed his name off of Lee’s lips, and worked his fingertips against Lee’s prostate while he rubbed against him, they were both still at least tipsy, high on the feeling of getting over the ridiculous fight, and more than ready for make up sex. “I fucking love you,” Nigel whispered, when their lips parted.

“Fucking love you, too,” Lee groaned, biting the words against Nigel’s mouth, gripping his hair tightly with oily hands, panting as his body was worked up. He needed this, needed to know his husband  _ wasn’t _ mad at him.

The oil on Lee’s hand made Nigel’s hair shine in the soft light of their bedroom, which made his lust-black eyes look even darker. He kissed Lee’s mouth again, more deeply, and tangled their tongues together when he pulled his fingers from Lee’s ass, slowly, then slathered his cock with oil, and pressed it inside Lee, in one steady stroke.

“ _ My _ bear,” Lee whispered desperately between kisses and long lashings of tongue. He hitched his hips up, taking Nigel into his hilt with a gasp. “Yeah, yours,” Nigel moaned, and smiled slowly at the look on Lee’s face when he gasped, then rutted his hips against Lee again, starting to fuck him steadily as he pressed Lee’s runners legs to his chest.

Fingers inched into the bed sheets, Lee watched Nigel fuck him, the look on his handsome face, and knew he was the luckiest man alive. “C’mon, fuck me hard.”

Nigel’s dark eyes crackled, and he slapped Lee’s ass with one hand, hard enough to leave a stinging mark as he started to pound into him. Nigel’s torso flexed with every thrust, and sweat started to gleam on his chest and neck.

“Look at you…” Lee groaned, completely enamoured, lust pooling in his spine quickly.

“Look at  _ you _ ,” Nigel growled, losing himself in the feeling of taking his husband hard, fucking him into the bedsheets as they stared at one another with obsessive lust.

Lee wrapped long legs around Nigel’s torso and his arm around his shoulders leaning up to kiss his husband the best he could, panting against his mouth as noises of the uncontrollable nature left his lips.

“Fuck-” Nigel grunted, and slapped Lee’s ass again, then pulled him into his arms and lifted him. Nigel stood and carried Lee to the closest wall to pin him against it.

“Yes-!” Lee all but shouted, grasping on to Nigel tightly, feeling him deep inside of himself, pressing and pulling in all the right ways, sending the brunet into a frenzy.

Nigel’s fingers dug into the muscle of Lee’s ass, and he hammered into his body, roughly, grunting in Lee’s ear about how good he felt, breathlessly. Lee’s head fell back against the closet, lolling as sweet ecstasy took over and he started to come completely undone, swearing and sputtering as his cock exploded between them.

“Baby-” Nigel moaned, and felt Lee’s come spatter against his chest and stomach, then the tremble of Lee’s muscles around him, which pulled him over the edge right behind Lee, cursing in Romanian, shaking as he came deep inside him.

Lee wrapped himself around Nigel even harder, holding him as he came, kissing his face all over, and then his lips, panting there. “My bear.”

Nigel panted against Lee’s mouth, shaking and sweating before he laid Lee on the bed, and laid over him. “Love you.”

Lee hummed, and cupped Nigel’s face, kissing over and over again. “I love you. Don’t ever forget that.”

Nigel stared into Lee’s eyes up close when he could, and then kissed Lee back, sinking into the feeling of being adored. “Can’t believe I ever forgot,” he whispered. Nigel felt everything intensely, when he felt loved, it was the greatest feeling in the world, when he was unsure, it was the loneliest.

“How can I help you remember?” Lee asked, nuzzling Nigel’s face with his own, adoringly. “Should I tattoo it on my ass?”

Nigel burst out laughing at that, and smiled widely enough to show off his imperfect teeth. “Your ass is too pretty to tattoo, baby,” he purred, and rubbed Lee’s ass with one hand, kissing his neck.

Lee thumbed over the tattoo on Nigel’s neck. “Then what?”

Nigel closed his eyes when Lee touched him like that, and nuzzled their faces together. “I don’t fucking know,” he laughed, and looked at Lee again, up close. He licked his own lips, thinking about it as he stared at his husband. “When I feel good, I can’t fucking imagine feeling bad. When I feel bad, I can’t imagine feeling good…”

“Maybe some meditation and acupuncture might work,” Lee suggested, knowing full well that Nigel would never do either one, but he wanted to try.

“I’d rather shove needles into me than meditate,” Nigel sighed, and began to kiss Lee’s stubble-covered jaw, adoringly.

“You’d really try it?” Lee asked, brows raised, and head tilted back, combing fingers through Nigel’s hair.

“What? The needles? Why the fuck not? It’s not going to fucking work, but I’m not afraid of a few tiny little holes,” Nigel laughed, and tilted his head like a happy cat being petted as Lee’s fingers roved through his hair.

“Maybe next time you’re feeling as you were.” Lee smiled up at him, content to  gaze on his husband happily when he was like this.

“Next time I’m jealous, you’re going to stick a few needles in my face?” Nigel laughed. “That should cheer me right the fuck up.”

“A massage worked,” Lee pointed out, poked his finger on Nigel’s forehead, playfully. “I’d suggest acupuncture for everyday stress, but I don’t think you’d actually enjoy it enough to get much out of it.”

“You, naked, moaning my fucking name will always work, gorgeous,” Nigel laughed, and leaned closer to kiss Lee again, on the mouth, holding it for a long moment as their tongues tangled.

Lee hummed, and sucked on Nigel’s tongue for a moment. “Is that all it takes? Moaning your name and you’ll come running to fuck me hard? Forget everything else?”

“I can barely remember my own fucking name when I’m inside you,” Nigel purred, and hooked his leg behind one of Lee’s, holding them together. “Let alone some fucking argument.”

Laughing, Lee let Nigel hold on to him anyway he wanted. “I’ll file that away then to just start letting you fuck me.”

Nigel laughed with him, and rolled over to his side so that they were still staring at one another. “Just start stripping, and I’ll forget whatever the fuck I was raving about.”

“Noted,” Lee whispered, already making plans for a few things now for their vacation, some before and some during.

Nigel kissed Lee again, more softly this time, and then brushed their noses together. “I love you, stubborn little bird.”

“I love you, my bear.”


	2. Chapter 2

Lee went back and got the jacket he intended to get, the blue one, the next day and packed their things first before heading out to get done the first round of gifts he was having done for Nigel. Well,  _ gift _ . On returning back to their place, having run there, still unable to drive, Lee walked a little more stiffly, and wore his looser running pants. Before Nigel could say anything about it, Lee handed his husband the card of the tattooist, a very butch looking female’s face on the front of it.

“Just keep this in mind before I show you, okay?”

Nigel took the card, confused, and looked at it, then Lee from where he’d been kicking a soccer ball around the huge living room for Beauty. “Show me what?” he asked, confused and a little breathless from their game.

“I got a tattoo,” Lee explained.

“You … you got a fucking tattoo?” Nigel asked, incredulously, and looked Lee over. “Where?”

“My… ass.” Lee held up a hand. “The card. See. She’s a lesbian, she wanted nothing to do with my ass.”

Nigel opened his mouth before Lee started speaking, eyes flashing dark, but closed his mouth when he looked at the card, then back at his husband, his knee-jerk outrage fading into … curiosity. “On your ass? So, what the fuck did you need to get a bull-dyke lesbian to tattoo onto your ass?” he asked.

“They might be bear claws,” Lee said, taking a step closer to Nigel.

Nigel dropped the card when his fingers went slack. “Bear … claws?” he asked, with a tilt of his head. “You got fucking bear claws tattooed on your ass?” The little start of a smile tugged at Nigel’s lips.

“I did,” Lee said, his ass still hurting like he’d clenched too long, muscles sore and skin stretched feeling. “Place holders for my bear.”

Nigel’s eyes went a little wide for a split second, and he licked his lips, stepping closer to Lee with a soft smile. “For me? You tattooed yourself … for me?” he asked, staring at Lee, intensely.

“Against my better judgement.” Lee undid his draw string and turned around, his well formed ass showing the large bear claws tattooed on, bright red and glossy looking from the ointment on them.

Nigel stared, quiet for a moment, in disbelief before he touched the edge of Lee’s reddened skin, and felt the heat of inflammation radiating from the black marks. “Baby…” he whispered, and brushed his hand against the side of Lee’s ass. “It looks … fucking great,” he laughed, and leaned closer to kiss Lee’s neck, hugging him from behind. “You’re fucking crazy, I love you.”

“My ass is for you only,” Lee said with a grin, leaning back against Nigel, carefully.

Nigel kissed the side of Lee’s neck over and over and then pulled back to take another look at his husband’s ass with a big smile this time. “You are fucking insane,” he laughed, and shook his head, silvery hair falling in his eyes. “Maybe as crazy as I am. I fucking love it.”

Lee smiled bigger this time and turned to kiss Nigel on the mouth, leaving his pants down for now, the air felt kind of nice on his chapped feeling ass. “You’re rubbing off on me.”

Nigel pulled Lee closer by his waist and kissed him, passionately, “you didn’t have to do that,” he whispered, but looked utterly enchanted by Lee’s permanent, very personal gesture.

“I wanted to. So now if you are ever jealous or mad, all I have to do is strip and show you my ass,” Lee explained with an easy smirk, kissing Nigel.

Nigel just smiled at Lee, still surprised at his husband’s impulsive sweetness. “It’s a fucking beautiful ass, fell in love with it first time I saw it,” Nigel murmured, and ran his hand over the edge of the red skin. “Does it hurt?”

“Yes,” Lee said warningly. “You can touch it once it's healed…”

Nigel smiled at Lee and nodded that he understood, then kissed him again, holding him gently. “I’ll be nice. Promise,” he purred.

Lee wiggled up close to Nigel, hands on his chest, raking his nails down into the fur there. “Do you really like it?”

“Of fucking course I like it. I love it. Sweetest damn thing anyone’s ever done for me,” Nigel murmured, his eyes bright.

“Sweetest?” Lee laughed, and nuzzled against Nigel's face with his nose.

“You tattooed your ass to make me feel better, that is fucking sweet,” Nigel said, against Lee’s lips.

Lee laughed hard against Nigel’s mouth, shaking his head. “Only you would find that sweet.”

“Maybe,” Nigel purred, and stole a look at Lee’s ass again, and touched the red skin. “Gorgeous.”

“Should be healed enough for our trip…” Lee suggested, curling his fingers into Nigel’s chest.

“Wish it was healed now,” Nigel whispered, and nipped at Lee’s ear. “But I can wait.”

“It’ll be worth it,” Lee whispered back, tilting his head into Nigel’s teeth there, still snuggled in close to him.  “I’ll have to have your help putting the ointment on it to keep it from drying out…”

“I can help with that,” Nigel smiled, and bit Lee’s ear a little harder. “Your poor, perfect ass.”

Lee groaned, his body still on a high from the run and the endorphins of getting the tattoo done, his skin humming. “I thought you might….”

“I’ll get every inch,” Nigel promised in a deep voice in Lee’s ear, his breath heating Lee’s delicate skin there.

“And then some.” Lee shimmied out of his jogging pants and left them and his shoes in a pile on the rug under his feet.

Nigel pulled Lee’s shirt off of him, and kissed the slope of his shoulder where his neck became shoulder. “I fucking love you, little bird.”

Lee all but crawled his husband like post, arms around his shoulders, legs hiked up around his hips instantly, dying to get close. “I fucking love you, my bear.”

Nigel slid his arms under Lee’s ass to hold him there, careful to avoid the sensitive, freshly inked skin, and kissed him passionately as he carried him to the couch, and laid on it, Lee over top of him. Lee was naked where Nigel was still clothed, so Lee started to undo the buttons of his shirt, slowly, as they kissed, slowly rutting up against his jean clad hips.

Nigel leaned up to kiss Lee harder, and writhed out of his shirt when Lee had it undone, then laid down again and grasped Lee’s cock before he began to stroke it with one hand. “Look at you…” he moaned.

Watching the way Nigel’s neck moved, the tattoo of the girl there, Lee couldn’t help but frown a little at it, but continued to strip his husband nonetheless. “What about me?” he whispered.

“Big blue eyes, pale skin, these pretty pink nipples,” Nigel purred and twisted one of Lee’s nipples, gently, between the fingers of his free hand. He noticed the little, fleeting frown, but said nothing about it.

Lee tugged Nigel’s pants off, lifting his own hips to get them down his legs, and then sat back over his thighs once more, carefully. “That all?” He batted those blue eyes at his husband, flirtatiously.

“Long neck, sharp jaw covered with scruff and as ass to kill for,” Nigel moaned, pulling Lee down to him by his short hair for a long, hot kiss as he rutted up against him.

Fingers tugging on silvery strands, Lee carded them through Nigel’s hair and kissed him hard, gasping as their cocks rubbed and rolled together. “Sounds like you might love me…” he murmured.

“More than anything in the whole fucking world,” Nigel moaned, honestly, and took them both in one hand, stroking their cocks together as they throbbed, like two hearts held against one another.

Lee quivered as Nigel fisted them together, gasping and letting his mouth drop open as he breathed against Nigel’s lips. “Good-”

Nigel’s hand smeared precome between their tips, and he ran his free hand down Lee’s stomach to his thigh, squeezing and palming it before he tugged at Lee’s balls. “Gorgeous cock, too … “

“Biased,” Lee groaned, his lean runner’s frame arched and flexed under Nigel’s touch, and he bit his husband’s throat with a little growl, trying to taste his pulse.

Nigel stretched his throat back for Lee, letting him bite all he wanted, the tattoo of the woman on his neck stretching out when he did so. “Love that…”

No matter how hard Lee bit, he couldn’t bite the tattoo  _ off _ . He sighed, and moved to the other side instead with a little huff.

“What’s wrong, baby?” Nigel asked, after nearing the little huff, and bent his throat backward again when Lee moved to the other side.

“Your tattoo,” Lee admitted, finally after over a year coming clean about the one thing he actually hated.

Nigel’s hands stopped roving as he looked up at Lee, confused. “My tattoo?”

Deciding it wasn't worth ruining things, Lee shook his head slowly. “Never mind.” He bit into Nigel's neck, other side, and writhed over Nigel's body.

Nigel groaned softly, and tilted his head back, lost in the moment, but then touched Lee’s face, and pulled away to look up at him. “What’s wrong with my tattoo?”

Lee shook his head. “Nothing. Just… distracting.”

“Bullshit,” Nigel said, and pulled his hand off of Lee’s cock to rest on his back. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothin’,” Lee drawled, growing annoyed now they stopped. “You have a lady on your neck. It's always been a little distractin’.”

“It’s … not a lady I fucking  _ know _ ,” Nigel protested, confused. “I just picked out the design while I was fucked up, and woke up like this.”

“So you just kept it?” Lee asked, having never bothered to ask before, it was never important.

“It’s a tattoo, what am I going to do with it?” Nigel asked. “Why does it bother you?”

Lee nuzzled against Nigel’s neck on the other side. “Well, there’s a _ lady  _ on your neck for one.”

“So?” Nigel asked, more confused than irritated.

Lee sat back on Nigel’s hips and sighed. This was going nowhere. Lee was not jealous of much, and he was hardly jealous of a tattoo either, but this one had always boggled him, and now that they were married, it seemed down right  _ strange _ to have his husband with a tattoo of a lady. “Never mind.”

“I like women and men, is that what this is about?” Nigel asked, incredulously. “I’m not going to fucking run off with some woman.”

Present tense. Lee’s brows raised and he slid off Nigel with a sigh. “I never said you would.”

Nigel sat up, and reached out to hold Lee by his waist. “But that’s why it fucking bothers you, isn’t it?” he asked, bluntly.

“You  _ like _ women, but we’re married,” Lee offered, having not even so much as looked another soul since he met Nigel, which was strange for someone like Lee, but people changed--  _ he _ had changed. “I… so long as I don’t look at it, it doesn’t bother me.”

Nigel sighed, and shook his head at Lee. “I don’t like any women, Lee. I meant that that’s how I’ve been, fucking bi. I’m not fucking interested in anyone but you, for fuck’s sake, no matter what the hell I got tattooed on me over a fucking decade ago!”

Lee breathed in deeply, and then let it out slowly, nodding. “I know. I’m… being ridiculous.” He leaned and kissed Nigel’s head and then slipped out of his grip to get something to drink, petting Beauty on his way to the kitchen.

Nigel got up, and walked into the kitchen slowly, his hand rubbing at the girl tattoo on his throat as he watched his husband. “I don’t want a woman. I’m not going to fucking want a woman instead of you, Lee.”

“Who would?” Lee flirted, leaning against the counter on his elbows, a glass of water in hand, still completely naked.

Nigel smiled a little at that, and leaned closer to Lee from behind, then kissed his neck. “I’ve never fucking loved anyone as much as I fucking love you, man or woman. Got that?” Nigel whispered, lips against Lee’s ear.

Lee hummed, swallowing a long sip of his water, and then set the glass down, stretching back against Nigel. “I’m very secure in our relationship....” For the most part. Lee just didn’t enjoy looking at the tattoo, is all.

“Good,” Nigel purred as he wrapped both arms around Lee’s bare chest, careful not to press against Lee’s ass, as much as he wanted to. “You got nothing to worry about, baby. I met you, and my heart was off the market, forever.”

“It’s still a hideous tattoo,” Lee pointed out, but let Nigel reel him back in, resting a hand on his thick thigh.

Nigel rolled his eyes, and kissed Lee’s ear. “I got it on a drunk impulse in the back of a fucking bar, I don’t think I expected art,” he murmured, and bit Lee’s earlobe.

“Maybe I should get drunk and pick out a tattoo,” Lee quipped with another hum, finding it hard to stay irritated, but that was usually just how he was anyway.

“Yeah? Would that make us even for something I did before I fucking knew you?” Nigel whispered, and kissed Lee’s throat, nuzzling him. It was strange to be on the other end of jealousy and honestly, a little comforting. Lee cared about him.

Of course Lee cared about him, it’s all he ever did day in and day out was care about Nigel, the gruff man just couldn’t see it for what it was, apparently. Lee hated the jealousy in himself, even if the tattoo was just random. “It’s going to be of some guy if I have to look at it all the time.”

Nigel laughed at that against Lee’s ear, and leaned around him to kiss his lips. “Okay, baby. I’ll get rid of her,” he whispered, and nipped at the side of Lee’s jaw. “I’ll have a mustache put on her. Happy?” he teased.

“A transvestite?” Lee said, turning his head to look at Nigel.

“Not good enough?” Nigel asked, his eyes sparkling when Lee looked at him. He already had an idea in mind for how he’d get the ugly-ass old tattoo covered up. 

“That’s up to you,” Lee replied, leaning back to kiss Nigel’s jaw, on the side without the tattoo.

Nigel noticed and smirked at Lee’s stubborn charm. “I think maybe I spoiled you rotten before we were married,” Nigel joked, the smile on his lips making his eyes crinkle at the edges.

“You mean the whole week we were dating before we eloped?” Lee chuckled, skimming fingers over Nigel’s wrinkles, lovingly.

“Yeah, that entire week,” Nigel chuckled, and kissed Lee’s palm as he stared at him. “Hard to believe, only knew each other a week, and I knew I wanted to marry you, just like that.”

“Just like that?” Lee echoed and turned to kiss Nigel the right way, on the lips.

Nigel hummed, and sank into the kiss with one hand against the side of Lee’s face. They were crazy, both of them, and impulsive, but Nigel had never been happier. He sucked Lee’s lower lip for a moment, and pulled away with a soft sigh, faces still together. “I know what I want, when I want it.”

“When you’re not drunk,” Lee chided softly as he bit Nigel’s top lip, keeping their mouths pressed together between their shared words and breath.

“When I’m not drunk,” Nigel smiled, and smoothed his hands down to Lee’s hips. “I knew I wanted you, right away. I’ve never changed my mind about that.”

“But you definitely knew you didn’t want matching snow suits,” Lee pointed out, slipping a little bit closer, skin to skin with Nigel.

Nigel laughed, and nodded, then ran his hands over the small of Lee’s back. “Yeah, I knew that right away,” he murmured with an alluring rumble in his voice as he nuzzled Lee. “Just … matching is a little fucking much.”

“I jumped the gun on that one,” Lee admitted, “I thought it was… cute.” Lee was definitely gay, not the typical gay, but he had his moments, and he often forgot his husband was not completely on spectrum with him.

“You’re fucking cute,” Nigel whispered. He wouldn’t change a fucking thing about Lee, even that he thought they should have matching snowsuits. “I love you, baby.”

It had hurt a little that Nigel didn’t want to match, but Lee supposed he’d get over it. He nuzzled into Nigel. “I love you, too.”

Nigel didn’t want to wear matching suits, it reminded him of old tourists who shuffled around Bucharest in matching, loudly colored track suits and snapped pictures of starving kids without giving them a fucking cent. He’d been one of those kids, once. “You can’t get sick from getting a tattoo, can you?” Nigel asked, protectively, not sure about much except that Lee was better now but he still got nervous if Lee so much as got the fucking sniffles.

“It’s a sterile and clean needle, brand new even,” Lee explained, having watched the tattoo artist take it out of the package. “Pretty sure I’m okay…”

“Okay, just making sure,” Nigel said, and kissed Lee on the lips. His worst nightmare, worse than anything he could imagine was Lee getting sick again, and not making it this time. The threat of cancer coming back loomed over them, like a spectre. He brushed the thought from his mind, and kissed his husband again, softly. “When did you eat?”

“I haven’t,” Lee said, not always one for eating than he was for drinking his food. He tried not to think of being sick again, not when they’d gotten this far.

“You should,” Nigel sighed, never not worrying about Lee, really. “I’ll make eggs and bacon.” That was about the only thing Nigel knew how to cook.

And the one thing Lee loved that Nigel did cook.

The brunet grinned and kissed Nigel on the lips. “If you want to. I’d rather eat you.”

“Oh really?” Nigel purred, and walked Lee closer to the fridge, trapping him in his arms. “I could be dessert …”

“I could… blow you like I did that once while you make food?” Lee countered offered, gazing at Nigel with lust blown pupils.

Nigel nipped at Lee’s lower lip when he suggested that, and smirked. “I’m sure as hell not going to stop you,” Nigel moaned, getting hard again at the thought alone.

“I wonder if you could stave off an orgasm long enough to finish making our lunch....” Lee grinned, biting at Nigel’s mouth, hand against his chest.

Nigel answered with a grunt, and had to remind himself not to grab Lee’s freshly tattooed ass. “We could fucking find out…”

“Get the eggs and bacon,” Lee demanded, and moved out from under his husband, over to the stove to turn it on.

Nigel shot Lee a dark look, but the smirk on his lips beneath it was playful. “You’re fucking cute when you think you can boss me around,” he chuckled, and opened the fridge door, slowly.

“Can't I?” Lee asked, waiting for Nigel, beckoning him.

“You are the only fucking person who can,” Nigel said, and pulled bacon and eggs from the fridge, then walked over to Lee, and the stove, taking his time just to make Lee wait.

Lee was hard just thinking about blowing his husband, taken back to their first days together, when all they wanted to do was fuck. Hell, that's still all they did. Lee dropped it his knees, licking his lips.

Nigel stepped closer, looking down at Lee with a smirk, and reached above the stove to take a pan down, then put it on the stove, and turned on the element. He was hard already, starting to throb with the pulse between his legs at the thought of Lee waiting to blow him.

Humming, Lee took Nigel's thighs in both hands and managed them as he leaned in a lick the tip of his cock slowly, lapping at the pool of precome starting there.

“Love that tongue of yours,” Nigel groaned softly, and spread his thighs as he cracked an egg in one pan, distracted.

Lee groaned and took Nigel down to the hilt, choking himself for a moment and then let up, doing it all again.

A gasp, then a moan escaped Nigel’s lips, and his hand reached down to clench at Lee’s hair, short strands escaping his fingers. “Fuck-”

Licking and lathing his tongue over the slit, Lee gazed up at Nigel, bright blue eyes dark with lust as he palmed himself while blowing his handsome husband. Nigel grunted, and gripped the back of Lee’s neck, pulling him in closer, already barely able to focus on the egg that started to sizzle.

Lee hummed around Nigel’s cock, vibrating through his mouth and against him, moaning a little as he palmed his own cock.

“Fuck, baby,” Nigel moaned, and tossed bacon into another pan, then looked down at Lee. “Touching yourself... Christ, what  a tease.”

“You can fuck me when you’ve made the food,” Lee crooned against Nigel hip, biting it seductively.

Nigel’s eyes rolled back at that, and he grunted, then cracked another two eggs and let them cook as he rocked himself into Lee’s soft, hot mouth, swearing in Romanian at the thought.

Lee wrapped his lips back around Nigel’s cock, and sucked hard, working from hilt to tip, over and over with long pulls of his mouth and tongue. Watching Nigel come undone was one of his favorite things.

Nigel gripped the edge of the stove, and dropped the spatula, panting as he watched Lee give him an incredible blow job. Lee knew exactly how to get him off, his tongue stroked in all the right places, and Nigel had to clench his jaw not to let himself come then and there. He managed to pick up the spatula again, and swore, trying to function like this but it was impossible.

“Do you need a minute?” Lee crooned, licking at Nigel’s slit, eyes big and dark, almost glazed over and staring up at him.

“No-” Nigel whispered, his hairy chest heaving hard as he flipped the bacon and the eggs, and then stroked Lee’s cheek. “Don’t you fucking dare take pity on me…”

Lee grinned and started back at it, sucking harder and longer, taking his time as he rolled his husband’s balls in one palm, humming.

Nigel groaned, more deeply and urgently this time, and flipped the eggs again, then barely managed to reach the pepper where it sat, and salt, and seasoned them with a few clumsy dashes before he dropped them on the counter, and clutched at Lee’s hair. “Perfect little cock-sucker, aren’t you?” Nigel growled, and started to thrust into Lee’s mouth.

Lee hummed again his approval, and sucked a little harder, jerking Nigel with his fist now, urging him to come, if he dared.

Nigel’s hips jerked forward, and his back arched. He gasped and then swore, loudly, the small of his back on fire as Lee made him lose control. “Fuck, fuck, fuck-” he moaned, thighs shaking as the orgasm ripped through his body, and he gripped Lee’s shoulder with one hand, the other scratching at Lee’s scalp.

Taking down every last drop, Lee licked and gulped, swallowing Nigel’s come like it was his very life source. He sucked the tip of his cock once more and then lapped at his balls with a flirty look up at his husband, licking his lips.

Nigel braced himself against the stove with one hand, and then looked down at Lee with a hazy, intoxicated look, and pulled him to his feet. “I won, breakfast is fucking ready,” Nigel whispered, still breathing hard.

Lee grinned, and kissed Nigel softly and then turned in his arms, taking a fork from the drawer beside them, and  cutting into the eggs in the pan, and eating. “So you did.”

Nigel sighed, and kissed Lee back, then trailed kisses down his neck, slowly, biting along the way as he hummed. “I thought I had to wait until your tattoos were healed to fuck you,” Nigel purred, thinking of the promise Lee made him.

“You have to wait to fuck me from behind, hard,” Lee answered, giving Nigel a look over his shoulder as he put bacon into his mouth. “But you can please me other ways…”

Nigel laughed, softly, and bit at Lee’s ear. “Oh, can I?” he chuckled, always amused when his little bird got bossy and imperious. It was strangely endearing.

“I’m sure you have a wonderful imagination,” Lee murmured cutting into his eggs, more hungry than he realized, humming around his mouthful of food.

Lee had a point. Nigel looked at Lee’s cock, the way it bobbed against Lee’s flat stomach, and very slowly dropped down to his knees to drag his tongue over the tip. “Nothing wrong with my imagination, baby,” he growled, and dragged his nails down the back of Lee’s thigh, then turned Lee around, toward the stove, and began to kiss his way up the back of Lee’s thigh.

Lee squirmed a little at that, biting his lip as he braced himself against the stovetop, the heat on the elements turned off now. “I’m aware…”

Nigel reminded Lee who was in charge here by spreading Lee’s thighs with his hands, and then yanked sharply on his hips to force his beautiful ass to arch up, making it even more pert than usual. “Who says I have to use my cock to fuck you?” Nigel asked, with a devilish smirk, and delivered a biting kiss to the inside of Lee’s thigh.

Dropping his fork into the pan, as his head dropped forward. The bite was achingly close to the new tattoos, enough to let the sting set in, and he shot a look back at his husband that was betrayed by his lustful groan. “Oh?”

Nigel demonstrated by dragging the hot tip of his tongue over the back of Lee’s balls, and pushed Lee’s thighs wider apart as he kissed the tiny, but sensitive patch of skin behind Lee’s balls, and worked his way, very slowly, to Lee’s entrance. “Mhm …” he answered, the sound making Nigel’s generous lips and slick tongue hum against Lee’s skin.

“Fuuuck-” Lee managed, hands on the oven door now as he presented his as back, spread wide and perfectly open for Nigel. His knuckles turned white from gripping so hard, toes curled into the tiled floor.

Nigel ran his big, calloused palms down the front of Lee’s thighs. He loved, loved, loved Lee’s legs. They were not long, but they were sleek and strong from all the running Lee did, and Nigel found himself as drawn to them as Lee was to his hairy chest.    
  
Nigel’s strong, deft tongue stroked the pucker of Lee’s ass, then eased inside, slowly, twisting and pushing until it was inside him, the tip just stroking Lee’s prostate with feather light touches as Nigel moaned.

Lee swore under his breath, legs trembling at every movement of Nigel’s tongue inside of him now. “Nigel-”

Nigel parted Lee’s ass cheeks with his hands, gently, and plunged his tongue even deeper inside him, slicking Lee as he opened him with the muscle. Nigel’s tastebuds rasped against delicate nerves, and Nigel’s cock rose to attention, Weakened to the core, which bubbled hotly with lust, Lee pressed back onto Nigel’s tongue with a deep seated groan, flushed and writhing. “My bear…”

Nigel gave Lee’s ass a slap, against the side of his cheek, and continued to tongue him harder and faster, well aware of what this did to his husband. He reached one rough hand around and grasped Lee’s leaking cock, jerking it hard and fast.

Shuddering, Lee felt himself start to swell with pleasure, thighs burning with it as it crept up through his lower back, threatening to come right there when Nigel fisted his cock. “I’m-”

Nigel groaned, and squeezed Lee harder as he jerked him off, tongue still thrusting inside Lee’s ass as he brought him to the edge of losing control. Lee gasped, bent over as sweat dripped down his shoulder and thighs, coming in Nigel's hand, running hot over his knuckles.

Nigel pulled back, and groaned as he stroked Lee through the orgasm, then brought his hand to his mouth and sucked Lee’s come off of it, slowly, and stood to pull Lee into his arms from behind. “Now we’re fucking even…”

“Even?” Lee panted, pressed back against Nigel, not even worried about the tattoos being sweaty and itching against Nigel’s furry hips.

“Even fucking Steven,” Nigel smirked, and kissed Lee’s ear, sucking the lobe as he held his husband. 

Lee chuckled breathlessly at that, reaching his hand up to cup one side of Nigel’s jaw, holding him there against his ear. “Good. We can finish eating then.”

Nigel nodded, and sighed, reaching around Lee to put the food on two plates. “Don’t know why you love my shitty bacon and eggs so much,” he said, affectionately. It was cute, Lee ate it like no one had ever made a better breakfast.

Half of Lee’s had been eaten already, but he took the rest and finished it off quickly. “It’s not bad, it’s the best I’ve ever had. Honest.”

Nigel smiled to himself, and kissed Lee’s shoulder, softly, then nuzzled it, “You’re not fucking biased at all,” he whispered, fondly, and stole a piece of bacon from around Lee’s arm. It was a deeply ingrained instinct to feed himself first, born of starving as a child. Nigel did not share food, he did not wait for someone else to eat first … except Lee. Nigel always made sure Lee was eating before he ate. It was a rough, primal sort of love that he could not explain with the words he knew.

When Lee had been very sick, getting him to eat anything and keep it down was rough, so now there was a silent pact between them that they ate and they ate well, and Nigel always made sure that Lee ate, no matter what.

“Not biased, just… I’ve always loved when you’ve made me breakfast.”

Nigel smiled, and kissed Lee’s ear, then started to eat from his own plate, mostly with his fingers. “Gotta keep that perfect ass of yours fed, and those legs…” Nigel whispered.

Lee laughed again, and leaned in against Nigel, stuffing the last of his bacon and eggs into his mouth with a fork. “Anything you feel you need to do…”

“You can’t run for a few days with those tattoos, can you?” Nigel asked, still mostly wrapped around Lee as they ate standing in front of the stove in the kitchen, neither of them hung up on table manners in the least.

“No, I can’t let them get too sweaty. Bad enough I ran there and back,” Lee commented.

“Can you sit in a bath?” Nigel asked. He’d never been a bath person, until he discovered curling up with Lee in a tub of warm water was the almost the best feeling in the world after a trying day. 

“I don’t know?” Lee laughed, shaking his head and turned in Nigel’s arms to feed him off a fork with eggs on it.

Nigel leaned forward and ate the eggs off of the fork with a hum. “Shower, maybe? If you’re not supposed to get sweat in them, you sweated a shitload while I was tongue-fucking you.” Nigel smirked, proud of that.

“You work me up,” Lee crooned and kissed the side of Nigel’s mouth. “Shower should be fine.”

“I do my best,” Nigel whispered, and rubbed the side of Lee’s ass with one hand. “You’re the one who came home with an _ ass tattoo _ .”

“You like it,” Lee whispered back and nipped at Nigel’s jaw as he pushed him back toward their bedroom, and to the bathroom there.

Nigel licked his lower lip, and nodded as he let Lee push his chest, and pulled him toward the bedroom. They were always pushing and pulling at each other, usually in a harmonious way, like magnets that belonged together, where one moved, the other would follow. “I might like it a little bit,” he teased.

“Once it’s healed, you’ll always know where to put your hands,” Lee said, brows raised expectantly at his husband, and kissed him into the bathroom door.

“Baby, I always know where to put my hands, but I still love them,” Nigel sighed as he watched the bear paw marks move on Lee’s ass over Lee’s shoulder before he was kissed. Nigel kissed Lee back, deeply and slowly, moaning into his mouth.

“They’re a reminder for when you forget how much I love you,” Lee whispered against Nigel’s mouth.

“That I can use,” Nigel whispered softly, nuzzling his husband’s face. “I’m … forgetful.” Nigel was reactive. He had been since he was born, prone to big emotions and lashing out, with a temper that simmered under it all. He knew his mother had used while she was pregnant, he was pretty sure there was something … wrong with his brain, and wondered, in his lowest moments, what he’d be like if he’d been born into a different sort of world.

None of that mattered to Lee, he loved Nigel for who he was, and would always be. He cupped his husband’s face and kissed him fully, slipping tongue between lips and sliding it against Nigel’s. “I love you.”

Nigel backed into the bathroom, and stared at Lee as he turned the shower on with a blind reach of his hand. The water started to pound, hot and steaming against the tiles, and Nigel lost himself in another kiss with Lee. “Love you too, baby.”

***

A week later, Lee was healed up, and they were packed and ready to leave to Will’s Vermont cabin, near many slopes of snow for skiing, should they find they wanted to. However, Lee had a feeling there would be more fucking than skiing, and that was just fine.

Nigel was out, tying up a few loose ends before they went away. The elevator doors opened, and Nigel stepped out, with a bandage over the side of his neck, leather jacket collar pulled up to cover the white, blood-speckled gauze.    
  
Beauty ran to the doors and jumped up and down, so Nigel pet her, and let her sniff the bandage on his neck before he scratched her ears and looked around. “Where’s Daddy, Beauty?” he whispered to her.

Lee was finishing the packing that he started a week ago, wanting to make sure they had everything, sweaters and jackets, warm clothes and food that he tucked away into a large plastic tote. Jazz music wafted through the air from their bedroom.

Beauty led Nigel toward the bedroom, and the sound got louder as Nigel neared it. He leaned in the doorway, watching Lee for a moment. “All packed yet?”

Lee was humming along to the music, good old New Orleans jazz, and looked up when Nigel entered, and smiled brightly. “Yes. Packed for the both of us. Even packed Beauty a few sweaters and boots.”

“Good, don’t want her to be cold,” Nigel said as he sauntered in, and pulled Lee into his arms for a kiss. 

Lee was in slim fitting jeans and a red sweater, boots on his feet for once instead of tennis shoes. He wrapped his arms around Nigel’s shoulders and kissed him properly. He skimmed his fingers over the bandage. “What’s this?”

“A surprise,” Nigel said with a little smirk in his voice, and turned his neck slowly so that Lee could see the bandage better, then peeled his leather coat off. “Take the bandage off, look.”

It was over Nigel’s tattoo, and Lee narrowed his eyes skeptically, but started to feel the bandage back slowly. “I hope you didn’t add on to it…”

“Just look at it,” Nigel sighed. Under the bandage was a very fresh, well-done  cover-up tattoo. Where the woman in a bikini had been was a bird with blue and black feathers, wings spread in flight. It covered the old, faded tattoo that Lee hated perfectly, and the blue ink contrasted with Nigel’s tanned skin.    
  
Nigel kept watching his husband, curiously, waiting for his reaction.

The skeptical look on Lee’s face faded into a smile that brightened his blue eyes. “A blue bird?” he asked, quietly, not touching the freshly done ink.

“Yeah,” Nigel said, proudly, letting Lee look at the finished work. “I thought I’d get rid of the ugly old lady after so long,” he said with a smile as he watched his husband’s face. “So there it is: my fucking blue bird of happiness.”

Lee lightly glided his fingertips over the new ink, eyes flitting to Nigel’s. “Do you like it?”

“Yeah, I love it,” Nigel said, decisively, and watched Lee’s eyes as they moved over the new design. “I thought bluebirds might look like … fluffier and girly but this one looks pretty tough.”

“I love it,” Lee said quietly, and kissed Nigel’s lips. “I have my bear claws, you have your bird.”

“Better than the lady?” Nigel asked, already sure of the answer.

“Much,” Lee agreed, and kissed Nigel again, and again, and again...


	3. Chapter 3

Now that everything was back to normal, and their vacation back on track, Lee got them packed into the car, after asking the security for help, they did, and he thanked them all. Beauty had her cute little sweater on and boots to keep her paws warm, and Lee was bundled up tight in his green snow jacket.  
  
Nigel stepped out of the elevator, having brought the last bag down, and gave the men last minute instructions in Romanian, they listened, and nodded that they understood, and Nigel strode toward the car. Somehow, he managed to make the all-black parka and heavy boots look menacing. He looked larger wearing them, and the fur on the hood of the parka gave him a distinctly wolfish air. “Ready?” he asked, as he climbed in the car, and put the bag in the back seat, then pet Beauty’s ears before starting up.

“Yes,” Lee said, already buckled in, and made sure Beauty had her little doggy seat belt on, too, just in case. They looked packed to the brim in Nigel’s car, even though Lee hardly packed much, he had packed a lot of wine, just in case.

Nigel backed out of their parking space, and drove out to the street beyond, snow starting to flutter down around them. “What the Hell is Beauty wearing?” Nigel asked, only noticing her sweater fully as he changed lanes, headed for the freeway.

“She’s wearing a sweater,” Lee answered, looking at Nigel as if to challenge him to say other wise. “I sent Will’s dogs some, too.”

Nigel huffed a little laugh, and looked back at Beauty, who wagged. “She seems to like it,” he sighed. His husband was adorable, a little nutty, but adorable.

“She’s warm,” Lee pointed out, leaning over to kiss Nigel’s cheek before watching the road give away to the freeway, leading them up north where it got a bit colder, snowier.

“People put clothes on dogs a lot here?” Nigel asked, and leaned into the little kiss as they drove. Beauty leaned closer, and licked Nigel’s ear, then laid on the back seat to have a nap.

“Some of them do. Some dogs don’t do well with the cold, so sweaters and coats are needed for the snow,” Lee explained, twisting to pet Beauty’s head where her tiny bow was planted against her ear.Beauty sighed and snuggled her head into Lee’s hand. She’d become used to being spoiled and loved now, from both Nigel and Lee, in different ways. “Our delicate little miss,” Nigel chuckled.

“Someday when she is old, you’ll be glad we did these things for her.” Lee smiled and then fed her a treat from his huge snow jacket pocket.

“Of course I will,” Nigel chuckled, as Beauty took her treat, delicately, and ate it as she wagged her tail. The snow became heavier the further north they drove, the flakes swirling and thick like feathers. “If she likes the damn sweater, she can have as many as she fucking wants.” Besides, it made Lee happy to dress her up.

Lee enjoyed the view of the snowflakes, though he didn’t like it that much, he was determined to enjoy it more this year than he had in the past, too frail and too cold to do much about it. “Maybe a jacket…”

“I’m fucking shocked she doesn’t have a hat on,” Nigel teased, and took Lee’s hand in his large, warm, rough hand, and laced their fingers.

“Yet,” Lee said, with a grin, a bag at his feet had a few different doggy hats in it, but he didn’t say anything about that, he just squeezed Nigel’s hand back.

“Do you tell people she’s our daughter, or something?” Nigel laughed as they began to climb icy, winding roads through steep hills. He learned to drive in Romanian winters, this was nothing.

“Well, you’re the dad and I’m the mom, so sometimes…” Lee shrugged, innocently.

“Really?” Nigel asked, laughing as he stole a look at Lee and passed a slower car.

“Alright fine, you can be the mom if you _really_ want,” Lee teased, grinning at Nigel, slipping his hand away to squeeze Nigel’s thigh instead.

Nigel just rolled his eyes and scoffed at the thought, then spread his legs when Lee touched him. “Do I look like a fucking mom to you?”

“No,” Lee purred and leaned closer to rubbed up the inside of Nigel’s thigh, curling long fingers against his jeans.

“Good,” Nigel sighed, and splayed his thighs wider as Lee teased him. “Gonna distract me,” he grinned at his husband, not objecting in the least.

“So long as we don’t crash,” Lee whispered, nibbling on Nigel’s ear lobe.

“I’m not going to fucking crash,” Nigel purred, and sighed happily at the attention his husband gave him as he drove. Lee was always distracting as Hell, and Nigel loved it.

“I don’t think I’ve blown you while we’ve driven before,” Lee hummed, having always been tempted, but something always came up or the drive was never long enough.

Nigel took a deep breath, and bit his lower lip, then sighed, slowly. “No. I don’t think you ever fucking have,” he grinned, and gave Lee a daring look. “Nothing stopping you now…”

Lee leaned over, bit Nigel’s thigh once and then undid his pants, loving that his husband didn’t believe in underwear. He pulled Nigel’s length out, and licked the head once, undoing his seat belt to get over his lap better.

“Fuck-” Nigel moaned, and stole a look down at his seductive husband. “How the fuck did I get this lucky?” he sighed, and did his best to focus on the road.

“Swerve once and I will stop,” Lee crooned softly, and licked the tip of his husband’s cock again, holding it up right in one hand as he started to bob down around it, slowly.

“Not going to fucking … swerve,” Nigel moaned, and leaned back in the driver’s seat as Lee started to blow him. “Christ, Baby … that mouth…”

Lee grinned and squeezed the base of Nigel’s cock and then sucked hard as he pulled up. “Mmm…”

Nigel nestled one hand in Lee’s hair, and let his nails scratch, bluntly, across his scalp. “Jesus Christ, don’t stop-” Nigel moaned, and did his best not to speed too much.

Groaning, Lee dipped down further, spurred on by his husband’s grunts and movements, gripping his thigh with one hand, bobbing fast, teeth scraping _just_ enough to elicit a spark within the nerves there.

“Perfect fucking mouth for my cock, Lee,” Nigel moaned, and sped a little more as he tugged on Lee’s short, but growing hair, “fucking made for it…”

Lee lathed his tongue around the head again, swiping up the precome and swallowing it down with a little hum. He stroked Nigel’s shaft, fast and hard now, working him over with his hot tongue and mouth.

“Fuck, baby …” Nigel gasped, and scratched his nails down Lee’s neck as he fought not to come then and there, “gonna make me come in your mouth … is that what you want?” Nigel moaned, breathlessly, hips arching slowly.

Lee managed a half smirk as he gazed up at Nigel through the corner of his eye and scratched his fingers against his thigh to signal a positive response, and sucked _harder_.

“Fuck, fuck, Lee -” Nigel moaned, hips rising and falling as much as they could. “I’m … I’m …” he groaned, deep and shaking as he came inside Lee’s hot, tight mouth, and fought hard to stare at the road as he came, hand gripped around the steering wheel with white knuckles.

Licking and milking the come from Nigel, Lee drew it out as like as he could, and then popped off, licking his lips. He pulled back and grinned at Nigel, doing up his pants the best he could. “I was just a little hungry…”

Nigel pulled Lee closer to kiss him, quickly, sharing the taste of his come between their mouths before he focused on the road again. “Christ, baby … “ he purred, and thumbed Lee’s friction-hot lower lip. “Gonna be the fucking death of me.”

“Better me than something else,” Lee grinned, biting Nigel’s thumb before he pulled it back.

Nigel chuckled, flushed and relaxed, and looked at Lee again. “I’ll fucking die happy,” he laughed, riding a high now, endorphins racing through his blood.

“Just not too soon please,” Lee said and kissed Nigel’s cheek. He sat back, buckling in again. “How much longer?”

“Four hours,” Nigel sighed, and looked at his beloved, wanton husband, then touched his cheek, softly. “Take my puffy fucking jacket and have a nap.”

Lee raised a brow. “Two birds, one stone? Take the jacket off and put your husband to sleep?” he teased, turning his head to kiss Nigel's palm.

“I don’t mind the fucking jacket,” Nigel grumbled as he managed to undo his seatbelt, and remove his parka while driving, then handed it to Lee. He got concerned when Lee didn’t have a nap during the day, worried he’d tire out and get sick.

Lee took naps everyday now as part of a routine to keep up his energy, even if for Nigel's sake. “Okay, okay,” he said, taking the parka, rolling it up, and laid on it against the window.

Nigel looked at Lee, then reached over and moved the hot air vent so that it was blowing on him. “Want music?” he asked, fretting a little over his husband. Lee was healthy again, but Nigel was afraid that the balance was delicate.

“If you want,” Lee said, quietly, arms folded in front of his chest, closing his eyes. He never really napped, it was more of a meditation, resting his eyes, and centering himself, than anything else.

Nigel fumbled with his phone and put on some jazz he kept there for Lee, as they drove higher and higher into the mountains. “This, or some fucking bird sounds?”

“This is fine,” Lee sighed, with a little grin, but didn’t open his eyes to watch his husband fret. He toed off his boots and curled his feet up and under himself.

Nigel nodded, and kept driving as he held Lee’s hand, letting him snooze, or meditate, or whatever it was Lee did for naps. It kept him healthy, that was all Nigel cared about.   
  
A few hours later, Nigel stopped the car, and Beauty licked the back of Lee’s ear to wake him up. “Baby, we’re here.”

So, maybe Lee fell asleep. He wrinkled his nose and gave Beauty a pet as he blinked his eyes open. “Already?”

“It’s been four fucking hours,” Nigel laughed, and watched Lee wake up. “You drooled on my coat.”

Lee licked his lips and then wiped the drool off his chin, and then Nigel’s jacket, and handed it to him with a smirk. “My apologies.”

“Good thing it’s waterproof,” Nigel laughed. They were sitting in the car at the side of the road facing an idyllic little town covered in a thick coating of snow that looked like heaped on icing sugar. “It’s a fucking Christmas card out there. Where do we go to get to the place?”

Lee slipped on his boots once more and then pulled out his phone, plugging in the gps. “Take the exit up here, and then a right. From there we drive another few miles, and then a left.”

Nigel nodded and started to drive again, slowing down when he noticed an enormous group of shapes to the right, on a sidewalk. “What the fuck are those … deer?” A group of elk stood on a sidewalk, milling around as tourists watched them from across the street and took pictures. Locals walked by, unruffled by the scene.

“Elk?” Lee shrugged, not too sure himself.

“Christ, just let fucking animals roam all the fuck over…” Nigel grumbled, and Beauty looked out the window, then gave one soft bark at the huge animals as Nigel drove away, which made him laugh. “Yeah, you fucking tell them, sweetheart.”

Lee laughed and reached back to pet their dog, smiling. “She’s just saying hello.”

“No, she’s telling them to stay the fuck away from our car,” Nigel chuckled, and tossed the shy German Shepherd a treat. “Okay … so … right.” They turned onto a street lined with tiny shops that were lit up with colored christmas lights, including a Starbucks, a grocery store, a bank, and a very swanky looking pet store. “Won’t be shooting animals for food, I guess…” Nigel mused.

“The cabin is a few miles from town,” Lee explained, looking at his phone and the directions Will sent him. “You know Will, the more out of the way, the better.”

“Good. People are bastards,” Nigel agreed, and passed through the bustling street packed with well-to-do tourists in fashionable winter wear. Even though he had money now, Nigel had a disdain for people born into wealth … except Lee. Lee wasn’t a fucking snob.

Lee was just a snob for wine.

“I guess some can be,” Lee shrugged, watching the streets. So maybe they didn’t need to pack as much food for the trip as he had, as there seemed to be a lot of shops for that.

“Most of them,” Nigel said, and they soon left the town behind for what looked like a forest out of an oil painting. The evergreens were heavy with snow, some of them dotted with tiny red birds that watched the car speed past. “Especially fucking tourists.”

“What are we now then?” Lee questioned with a little smile over at his surly husband.

Nigel just gave Lee a look, “we’re just staying at a fucking cabin, not taking pictures of everything we fucking see,” he muttered, but couldn’t help but smile a little at his husband’s quick wit.

Lee wrinkled up his nose at Nigel. “Don’t have to take pictures to be a tourist.”

“You do to be the kind of tourist I fucking hate,” Nigel said, and squeezed Lee’s hand as they drove, keeping it warm as he laced their fingers together.

“Then we won’t be that kind.” Lee brought Nigel’s knuckles to his lips and kissed them, and then nuzzled each slightly out of place one.

Nigel’s knuckles were uneven and some permanently swollen from hitting things, mostly people, too often. Just another ugly reminder of his life as it had been. Of course, Lee loved them, just like he loved every other fucked up thing about his husband.   
  
Finally, they came to the turn off, and Nigel turned left. Not far beyond that was a long, snowy driveway, and at the end, a little log cabin. “Tiny…”

“Something wrong with tiny?” Lee asked,who looked giddy as how simple it was, hardly one for all the fancy things Nigel preferred they have.

“No, nothing wrong with it,” Nigel said, and stopped the car, then got out, and made a face at all the snow. He was going to have to shovel it. Fucking snow. “You have a key?” “No, but he told me where it is,” Lee said, and got out, wrapping his jacket around himself tighter, and then wandered up the steps of the small cabin, and picked up the dog statue there, and plucked the key out from under it.

“Of course, under a dog,” Nigel laughed, and let Beauty out of the car. She looked around and sniffed at the snow, never having seen so much of it, but stayed right by Nigel’s leg, uncertain of this new place. Nigel pulled most of the bags out of the back, and heard bottles clank in Lee’s luggage, then laughed to himself. “Did you just pack wine?”

“Yes, of course I packed wine. Do you really think we’d find anything decent here?” Lee asked, unlocking the front door and pushed it open. There was a nice rustic fire place, which he went to to start a fire immediately, the place chilly.

Nigel and Beauty walked in, and Nigel set the bags down. The cabin was only a little warmer inside than outside right now. “Did you pack _only_ wine?” Nigel asked, with a smirk.

“And a change of clothes,” Lee said, setting logs into the fireplace, looking around for a lighter.

Nigel pulled a lighter out of his jacket, and tossed it to Lee, then started to unpack wine as Beauty sniffed the threadbare furniture, able to smell other dogs on it all. “One change? Alright, I’ll just keep you naked once the place warms up.”

“Will said there is a washer here, so if we go out and I need to put clothes on....” Lee grinned over his shoulder, and then got to lighting the logs. Once done, he stood and kicked off his boots.

“It’s still fucking freezing in here, baby, keep your stuff on a little while,” Nigel warned, before he headed back out to the car for the last bags.

Lee rolled his eyes and pulled out fuzzy warm socks, and tugged them on. “I’ll be fine, Nigel.”

Nigel glanced over his shoulder, headed out, and came back with the bags, then shut the door with his foot. “Does this place have running water?” he asked, looking around with a little frown.

“Why wouldn’t it have running water?” Lee asked, shutting the door and locking it. He went to the kitchen and turned on the tap, water coming out. “See.”

“Thought it might be frozen,” Nigel said as he unpacked, and started to put wine in a cupboard. Beauty nosed through a bag and pulled her bag of treats out, then ran off with them.

“Beauty!” Lee laughed, chasing after her to get them back. “C’mon now, you can’t eat all of those in one day.”

Beauty shook the bag at Lee and ran faster around the little living room, playing a game with him after being cooped up in the car for so long. Nigel just sighed and started to make her supper by pouring the kibble they brought into her bowl from home. “She’s got energy to burn off, now.”

Lee looked around and found a ball instead in the corner, nice and chewed up likely from one of Will’s dogs. He held the ball up for Beauty for her to drop the treats. “C’mon, darlin’.”

Beauty’s face lit up at the ball, and she dropped the treats, and wagged for Lee to toss the ball as Nigel watched from the kitchen. “Beauty,” he said, and whistled, as he set her dinner down, near the fire. She looked at it, but whimpered for Lee to toss the ball.

“Give her a minute,” Lee said and went to the back door, opening it. He tossed the ball into the snow, and luckily beauty had kept her little booties and sweater on.

Beauty jumped out of the cabin, down the stairs, and raced after the ball, then rolled in the snow, and brought it back to Lee, ball and dog both covered in the cold, white stuff. She barked, wagging.

Laughing, Lee threw it again, standing on the porch, waiting for her. Beauty barked and ran off after it, nosing the snow before she flung it in the air and then jumped into a snowdrift like it was a pile of leaves. Nigel stood behind Lee, and chuckled. “Don’t think she’s ever seen this much snow before.”

Beauty ran the ball back, and dropped it at Lee’s feet, wagging at him again. Lee picked it up once more and threw it, not too far. “She’s excited, we live around a lot of concrete in a city that shovels the snow before you wake up.”

“Crazy dog,” Nigel said, as he hugged Lee from behind, and watched Beauty roll around in the snow with the ball in her mouth, grunting happily. He covered Lee’s hands with his own, checking to make sure they weren’t cold.

Lee thread their fingers together, not out in the cold long enough to make them ache with it yet. “Checking on me?” he asked, knowingly, canting his head up to look back at Nigel.

“Maybe,” Nigel admitted, and rubbed Lee’s hands with his free hand as Beauty finally shook herself off and carried the ball into the cabin again, then went to her food.

“I think she’s done,” Lee said, letting go of the fact that Nigel still checked on him, even a near year later. He turned in Nigel’s arms and wrapped his arms around his shoulders.

Nigel pulled Lee in and closed the door with his foot. The house was getting steadily warmer now, thanks to the large fireplace. He couldn’t help but still check on Lee. He could remember Lee being cold during and after chemo, and didn’t want that again. “She’ll tire herself out, every day.”

“Less work for me,” Lee chuckled, snuggling himself in against Nigel, happy and content to stay like this as they warmed each other up, though hardly very cold.

“You can’t go running in the fucking woods,” Nigel said, flatly.

“No?” the brunet canted his head at Nigel.

“No. There’s fucking Moose and Bears and shit out there,” Nigel protested, sternly. “They’ll fucking eat you.”

Lee grinned, inching his arms more around Nigel’s shoulders. “Can’t have that, there’s only one bear I want eating me…”

Nigel laughed, and pulled Lee closer by his waist. “I fucking mean it,” he said, trying to be serious with his husband, who was such a dedicated runner that he tried to run with cancer-riddled lungs.

“You’re going to have to chase me around the cabin then instead,” Lee flirted, biting his own lip as he gazed at Nigel up close. “Catch me, keep me from going outside…”

Nigel laughed again, unable to help himself, and he shook his head before he kissed Lee. “I don’t smoke anymore. I can fucking catch you.”

“My big Romanian bear chasing me around the cabin,” Lee mused, pupils blown dark at the very thought of it. “Life’s really tough for me, you know.”

Nigel squatted a little and picked Lee up in his arms with a grin. “Yeah, really tough,” he murmured, and carried Lee into the living room like he weighed nothing.

Lee nuzzled their noses together, legs tight around Nigel’s waist, strong and lean muscled. “My husband is too handsome to look at. I’m constantly blinded.”

Nigel laughed, and held Lee in front of the warm, roaring fire in the fireplace, then kissed him. “He’s that handsome, huh?” The firelight made Nigel’s dark eyes look almost mahogany and gold, lit up and richly colored.

He is. I’m lucky to have him,” Lee whispered, straddling Nigel’s lap once they were seated on the couch by the fire.

“I’ll beat him up and steal you for myself,” Nigel murmured with a wink, then pulled Lee closer in his lap as the fire crackled behind his slim form.

“He might kill you,” Lee grinned, kissing Nigel slowly, letting their lips linger, mingling their breath together.

“He sounds pretty dangerous,” Nigel chuckled, and kissed Lee again, winding their tongues together, very slowly.

“Very dangerous…” Lee deepened their kiss, meshing their mouths together, tongues sliding as he undid his own jacket and shrugged it off his shoulders, to the floor, and then raked his hands down Nigel’s chest slowly. 

“Is that why you love him?” Nigel asked, and started to run his hands over Lee’s thighs, squeezing the muscle before he palmed his cock.

“One of many reasons,” Lee whispered with a shudder, flushed hot when Nigel touched him like that.

“Yeah? So, what are the other reasons?” Nigel asked, in a devious voice while he unzipped Lee, and flicked the button on his jeans open, then freed his cock. Nigel licked his own palm, slowly, letting Lee watch before he wrapped it around Lee, and started to stroke, slowly.

“His tolerance in me,” Lee said with a hitch to his tone, “his confidence. The way he smiles and laughs with me…”

Nigel smiled, and squeezed Lee’s cock, then twisted his wetted hand around it, slowly, and thumbed his tip. “Sounds like he fucking loves you…”

“I know he does,” the brunet said, biting his own lip. He raised up to his knees and let his pants fall off his muscular ass, and then shimmied them off.

“You’re easy to fall in love with,” Nigel purred, watching Lee strip like this with a slow, wolfish smile on his generous lips. He leaned in and kissed Lee, stroking a little faster as he slid one hand against Lee’s ass, squeezing right over the tattooed bear paw print.

“He’d probably agree with you,” Lee managed through a moan, rolling his hips back so that his ass was firmly in Nigel’s palm.

“You are the most gorgeous thing I’ve ever seen…” Nigel moaned, and squeezed Lee’s ass again, then gave it a gentle, teasing slap against the cheek. “Look at you.”

Biting Nigel’s lower lip, Lee dragged his teeth over the plump flesh, slowly, never letting his eyes leaves the other man’s. “Do it again.”

“You like being spanked…” Nigel purred, and pulled his palm back, letting Lee anticipate before he slapped his ass, sharply. “Have you been a bad fucking boy?”

“Always for you,” Lee crooned, breath hitching again as he was slapped, sensitive now over the tattoos on his ass.

“I should bend you over my fucking knee…” Nigel murmured, and bit Lee’s lips, nipping sharply at them as he rubbed the stung flesh of Lee’s perfect, round ass.

A glint sparkled through Lee’s blue eyes, grin widening against Nigel’s mouth. “Gonna catch me first?”

“I guess I’d better,” Nigel smirked, his eyes glinting darkly at Lee as he took his hands off of him. “I’ll give you a head start…”

Lee crawled off Nigel, naked from the waist down, still in his ugly sweater. He took off, toward the upstairs, though it wasn’t large, there was hardly anywhere to go, but the point wasn’t to _really_ get away.

“Three, two, one…” Nigel laughed, and took off his shirt, then stood and smirked as he stalked after his husband. He headed up the stairs, two at a time, and listened like a predator in the dark before he burst into a small bedroom. “Lee ….”

Since overcoming cancer, Lee had been far more playful, living his life like this was his second and last chance. Which meant being far more playful with his husband, to get Nigel to lighten up with it.

From behind the door, Lee jumped on Nigel’s back, arms around his shoulders, and bit his neck, playfully, and then slipped off again, and down the stairs, sweater left behind him like a trail of dust.

Nigel did his best not to laugh as his slender husband tried to tackle him, then ditched his sweater. He took off after Lee, hunting him. Nigel’s long legs ate up the distance between them as he hurried down the stairs, and looked in the kitchen, then the living room. “Lee? Where the fuck are you!?” he asked, trying to sound cross, even if he was grinning.

There were few places the lean man could go dressed in nothing at all. From behind the kitchen arch, he tip toed in after Nigel, and tapped his shoulder, and then took off back into the kitchen.

Nigel turned on his heel and bolted after Lee. He caught him by the waist, and scooped him up, in both arms, then kissed him hard. “Got you, you little _brat_.”

Lee laughed against Nigel’s mouth, carried bridal style in his husband’s arms, he didn’t even squirm, too delighted. “ _Your_ brat.”

“Yeah? And what’s that make me?” Nigel asked as he carried Lee into the living room, and sat them on the couch, again.

“What do you want to make it you?”  Lee flirted, touching Nigel’s hairy chest with his fingers.

“You’re a brat, wouldn’t that make me your … Daddy?” Nigel asked, in a deep voice, and locked his eyes with Lee’s.

Lee hummed, kissed Nigel slowly for that, curling his fingers into Nigel’s chest hair. “So long as I can call you Daddy.”’

“Yeah, you can do that,” Nigel whispered, and rubbed his hands over Lee’s ass. “Lay over my knees.”

“Told  you that you were the daddy,” Lee mused, moving slowly, and with purpose, over Nigel’s lap, ass pert to the air, the paws very visible like this.

Nigel chuckled, and shifted his thigh under Lee’s cock, stroking it with the flex of muscle as he caressed the tattooed skin of Lee’s ass. “Damn right you did, but then you ran off…” Nigel rumbled, and gave Lee’s ass a teasing slap, just to start.

They were always looking for ways to spice it up, and Lee was  far from shy. He grinned over and up at Nigel. “Didn’t want to seem _too_ easy.”

Nigel laughed at that, darkly, and raked his nails over the sensitive flesh, “had to make me work for it?” he asked, and gave the other cheek a much sharper slap, which made the perfect muscle of Lee’s ass jiggle in the firelight.

Lee groaned with that one, grasping Nigel's thigh with one hand. “Yes.”

“Then I’m gonna have to make you pay for it,” Nigel purred, leaning down so that his mouth was close to Lee’s ear, and then slapped Lee’s other cheek just as hard. “You can’t come until I give you permission, got it? You’re gonna have to make up for your running away before I fucking let you.”

A pleased hum left Lee's chest, legs curling just slightly, bring his cock against Nigel thigh that much more. “Yes, _Daddy_.”

Nigel found he liked that, and moved his thigh, grinding it up against Lee’s swollen cock. “You’re going to have to be nice, and say please,” he growled. “Maybe you should start by undoing my fucking pants,” he purred, staring at the way Lee laid over his lap.

Lee managed to lean back on his haunches enough to undo Nigel’s pants, slowly, working the button undone and then the zipper. “Better?”

Nigel’s cock pressed itself out of the open zipper, and he sighed with relief. “Now suck it…”

Lee sucked his own lip between his teeth and then moved down between Nigel’s legs. He inched the pants off him just a little and then leaned in to suck his cock, for the second time that day. He lathed his tongue over the slit, and then wrapped his mouth over the whole head.

Nigel let his head fall back against the sofa, and grunted, deeply. “Never gonna get enough of that mouth of yours…” he moaned, and scratched his blunt nails over the back of Lee’s scalp, and neck.

Scraping his teeth over the knotted sensitive nerves, Lee matched Nigel's groan, enjoying every moment of taking his dick down his throat. “Mmm…”

“Fuck … such a good little cock-sucker,” Nigel moaned, and pressed himself, slowly, into Lee’s gorgeous mouth, watching with a hammering heart. “Grind your tongue over the tip.”

A smile spread to light up Lee's eyes, and he rubbed his tongue over the head, right against the nerves, up and down slowly.

“Just like that, baby … good fucking God,” Nigel moaned. His dark eyes were black with lust, and he gripped the back of Lee’s neck, keeping him right there. “Keep that up and I’ll fuck you …”

Lee’s eyes rolled back a little, blissfully sucking his husband’s perfect cock, as if nothing else in the world even mattered, or was as pleasurable. “Promise?” he asked, taking a breath, and then was right back at it.

“Yeah, hard and fast, until you beg me to let you come,” Nigel moaned, hips undulating up and down on the couch, fucking Lee’s mouth, slowly.

Sucking harder, Lee groaned and took Nigel down his throat, and then back up again, grinding his tongue against the spot he seemed to love the most before pulling off. “Just like I like it…”

“Get on the couch, on your hands and knees,” Nigel ordered, his cock throbbing distractedly hard.

Lee licked his lips again and then crawled back onto the couch, near Nigel, and got on his hands and knees. “Facing you or…?”

“Face away,” Nigel ordered as he shucked his jeans off, socks too.

Lee watched and then did as Nigel asked, not facing his husband. He planted himself on all fours.

Nigel smirked as Lee followed his command, obediently, and knelt behind him, then gave his ass another sharp slap, over the reddened skin on Lee’s left cheek. “Spread your legs, baby…. Wider.”

Lee breathed out a groan as the paw print on his ass tingled from the aftermath of the slap. He spread his legs, slowly, strong thighs flexing. “Better, daddy?”

“Much, much better, baby,” Nigel purred as he leaned down, spread Lee’s ass cheeks with his hand, and dragged his tongue over Lee’s entrance, then pressed it into him, slowly.

Lee’s head dropped the second he felt Nigel’s tongue on him, and felt his legs quiver just that little bit. “Nigel-”

Nigel had wanted to do this to Lee since Lee blew him in the car. He gave Lee’s ass another slap, and began to plunge his tongue into him, slowly and deeply while he squeezed the pert muscle of Lee’s runner’s ass.

Letting out a moan, Lee held fast to the sofa under him, his toes curling as his ass started to sting pleasurably, and his core heat from the inside out. He loved when his ‘bear’ really did _eat_ him. “Fuck…”

Nigel groaned against Lee’s ass, and gripped him by his hips now, pulling him back against and over his deft tongue as it wriggled and twisted inside Lee’s body, brushing against hypersensitive nerves, especially over his prostate.

“My bear,” Lee managed to get out, panting with need, trying to keep his hands to himself, fingers gripping tighter. “ _Daddy_ …”

Nigel responded with another, harder slap to Lee’s ass, hard enough that it rocked Lee’s body forward. He pulled away, and knelt behind him, then wasted no time in filling Lee with his cock, immediately. “Fuck …”

“Fucking--” Lee started to say, panting harder, he pushed back against Nigel, taking him all the way in, flushing as his prostate was tapped.

Nigel began to fuck Lee, roughly, no time for gentleness, no need for it. Lee wasn’t in the mood for gentle, and neither was Nigel. “You like that?” Nigel moaned, as he yanked Lee’s ass back, hands around his hips, filling him until Nigel’s hips crashed against Lee’s spanked, pink ass.

The brunet let his head roll forward, breathing heavily with the pounding of his ass, every sound loud over the crackling fire. “Yes, fuck, Nigel-!”

“Remember, baby, you gotta ask nice,” Nigel whispered, bent over Lee, lips against his ear as he kept filling him over and over again, heat blossoming between them, spreading up Nigel’s spine.

Lee knew he wouldn’t be able to hold it much longer, his body alight with everything Nigel was doing to him, wanton since he blew him in the car. “Please, please, _daddy_ \-- let me come?”

Nigel drilled his cock in again, and made Lee wait it out for a moment before he slapped his ass again, “Yeah, baby, you can come,” Nigel growled, giving his lithe, eager-to-please husband’s ass another sharp slap. “Come for me, baby, lemme feel it.”

Gasping, Lee started to fall apart under Nigel, as he always seemed to. Lee’s body throbbed and squeezed his husband’s cock as he came, burning up from the back of his spine through his core, until he thought he was going to pass out. “Fuuuckkk…”

Nigel groaned, deep and rough, and buried himself inside Lee as he came, flooding him. “Baby…” he moaned, and bent over Lee, kissing his back as he caught his breath, still gripping Lee’s hips. “Christ…”

Finally, lee collapsed, arms slack, chest to the couch, looked at Nigel out of the corner of his eye. “I wanted you to do that since we left home,” he admitted, though there were hardly any times Lee _didn’t_ want to be fucked hard and fast by Nigel.

Nigel chuckled, and nuzzled the back of Lee’s ear as he laid over him. Both arms worked around Lee, slowly, and held him close to Nigel’s hairy, wide chest. “Fuck you senseless?”

“Yeah,” Lee said, near inarticulate in the moment, breathless. He ran a hand up Nigel’s muscular thigh and squeezed.

Nigel pulled out of Lee, slowly, and laid next to him, then pulled Lee to his chest, letting him rest there as he rubbed Lee’s back with one hand. “Merry Christmas,” he chuckled, and kissed the top of Lee’s head, with a smile that reached his eyes.

Lee gazed at Nigel, eyes bright. They didn’t celebrate and said they wouldn’t, but this was the sort of gift Lee could accept, Christmas or not. He kissed Nigel slowly, rubbing his chest. “Merry Christmas, my bear.”  
  
“Merry Christmas, little bird,” Nigel sighed, and laid his leg over Lee’s hip, holding his husband to him with everything he had. The fire had warmed the room now, toasty and comforting, and it was easy to sink into sleep, wrapped in the fuzzy bliss of afterglow.


	4. Chapter 4

After ravishing Lee on the couch in front of the fireplace, Nigel fell asleep with his husband in his arms as the fire in the fireplace burnt itself out, and Beauty laid over his feet, snoring. A deep sleeper, the quiet outside helped Nigel slumber even more.    
  
He didn’t so much as open his eyes at the sound of snow crunching under massive weight outside the cabin, or the sound of something hard scraping at the side of his car, and a low, rumbling grunting sound. He just muttered in his sleep, and held Lee more tightly. “Hmm, shut the fuck up …” Nigel sighed, and turned his head away from the light that poured in through the windows.

Lee blinked awake, brows knit at the sound, and then Nigel. He slipped out of his grasp and found his jeans, stepping into them as he went to the window to look out, Beauty right behind him, at his feet.

Outside, rocking Nigel’s entire car with one paw pushing against it, claws scraping the paint job, was an enormous, fully-grown grizzly bear, who seemed able to smell something through the window, grunting at it as he pawed at the glass.

“Oh, shit,” Lee said under his breath, and pulled on his sweater from the stairs and put his boots on, calmly looking around for the gun Will said he had, though he was sure it wasn’t loaded. Flare gun maybe... “ _ Nigel _ …” he whispered, not wanting to be too loud.

Nigel sighed and opened his eyes, waking up slowly. “What?” he asked, and sat up, completely naked. Beauty whimpered as she looked out the window, and then hid, trying to stuff herself under the couch as the bear smashed the window of Nigel’s car. 

“What the _ fuck _ !?” Nigel exclaimed, and jumped up, looking out the window. He’d thought maybe it was kids, or someone trying to break into his car. “Are you … fucking … kidding me?”

“There’s a bear,” Lee said, quietly, not wanting to startle it or let them be known in the moment where they were, or have the bear come at the cabin. “Uh… Okay…” Lee looked around, and then went to the closet, maybe there was a flare gun, somewhere…

“Well … yeah,” Nigel said, stunned, and started to get dressed, quickly. “Take Beauty, go upstairs,” Nigel told Lee, in an ask-no-questions voice.    
  
The bear started to try and crawl into the car, but the window was too small for his bulk, he growled in frustration and began to rip off the driver’s side door.

"What? What are you going to do?” Lee asked, defiantly. 

“Get it the fuck away from my car! Get upstairs, Baby, Beauty’s fucking scared,” Nigel said and ran into the kitchen, rummaging through the cupboards as Beauty whimpered, and peed a little. He came out, trying a dishcloth over his mouth and nose and held a huge, bulk-sized container of hot chili powder. He unscrewed the lid, and went to the door. 

“Okay, okay…” Lee resigned and got to Beauty, arms around her, he carried her up the stairs and to the bedroom, locking them in. Though he didn’t like the idea of leaving Nigel to deal with it, Lee had to admit he knew nothing about  _ real _ bears. He opted to look out the window to watch, hoping the bear couldn’t climb this high.

Nigel charged out, shoulders squared, gun in one hand, chili powder in the other. “ _ HEI, URS _ !” he shouted, and the bear looked at him through the now cracked windshield. Nigel ran to the car, and sprayed the red powder into it with a few shakes of the container. The bear looked confused, then grunted, and sneezed, then sneezed again, shaking his head and pawing at his nose as Nigel added more. “Du-te dracului!” Nigel exclaimed at the bear, and pounded his fist against the windshield, and kicked the closed passenger door. The bear, who wriggled out of the car full of a cloud of hot chili powder dust, then  _ roared _ at Nigel, the sound loud enough to shake the house.

Lee’s eyes went wide as he held Beauty, calming her, but couldn’t help but have to cover his own mouth as the bear roared. Whatever Nigel was doing, it seemed to only make the bear more upset.

Nigel’s ears rang hard with the roaring sound, and he swore at the enormous bear, then tossed some of the orange-red powder against its nose, which made the bear retreat. Nigel followed it, chasing the bear and cursing it in harsh Romanian as he kept peppering the bear with the powder in the face, and fired his gun in the air, twice. Finally, blinded and unable to smell anything anymore, the grizzly seemed to give up and retreat from the unpleasant man with his unpleasant powder, running into the woods after an easier meal.

Lee’s heart was racing, but once the bear was gone, he set Beauty on the bed and ran down stairs as fast as he could. He threw the door open, and ran out, barefoot and coatless, after Nigel.

Nigel was likewise barefoot and coatless, and inspected his damaged car, opening it up to retrieve a bag of dog treats from the glove box. “Baby … it’s fucking cold out here, c’mon,” Nigel said, as he got out of the car, treats in hand, and … Christ he wanted a cigarette now. His fucking  _ car _ .

“It wanted the treats,” Lee sighed, he’d left them in there, unknowingly. “I can call a glass repair to come fix the window…” he fretted.

Nigel shook his head, and walked back to Lee after throwing more spice all over the ground to keep the damn bear away, then tossed the empty container into the woods, spitefully. He wrapped his arm around Lee, tugged the cloth off of his nose and mouth, and walked back into the house with him. “They’d come all the fucking way out here?” Nigel asked, with a cough, his eyes starting to burn.

“I’m sure we’d have to pay for the time, but why not?” Lee asked, letting Nigel lead him back in, toes crunching against the snow and then padded up the steps.

“Yeah, well, it’s too fucking cold to drive without a door…” Nigel shook some of the stinging spice out of his hair, and got Lee back inside, then reassured Beauty he was alright by petting her, letting her smell him. “It’s okay, Beauty … bad bear is gone.”

Lee went for the wine, padding across the cabin to get a hearty one, and then began to open it, letting it breathe. He then pulled out his cell phone to try and find a glass repair for the window. “Is it just the window or did he ruin the door?”

Nigel looked out the window at his car with a frown. “Door’s only on by one hinge,” he sighed, and only then noticed his arm had been scratched when he got too close. He went to the kitchen, and found some paper towels, wet them, and patted at the scratches through the ripped sleeve of his shirt. It was hard to see, his eyes were tearing up from the powder that clung to his eyelashes.

“Glass repair isn’t going to help us then.” Lee frowned at his phone, looking for a body repair shop instead. He looked over at Nigel, head canted. “How deep is that?”

“Not bad,” Nigel said, and just took his shirt off, then showed Lee. “Couple scratches, just oozing.” Sure enough, they were just superficial enough to bleed, he’d been very, very lucky. Beauty was glued to Nigel’s side, leaning against him, tail between her legs.

Lee sighed, trying not to worry, and rummaged through the under sink cabinet until he found a first aid kit. “Wrap it at least?”

“Okay, we can wrap it,” Nigel said to his husband, indulgently. His adrenaline was just starting to come down, and he began to laugh, incredulously. “I just fought a _ fucking bear _ with a jar of spices…”

Lee smiled at Nigel as he got out the disinfectant and the wrapping, and motioned him over so they could clean it at the sink first. “If  _ I _ had done that…”

“I’d fucking kill you if you did that,” Nigel laughed, only now really realizing how crazy that was. He went to the sink, and petted Beauty again, reassuring her with a cough.

Helping Nigel clean out the wound, Lee disinfected it and then put some balm on it. He started to wrap Nigel’s arm with a sigh. “If I wasn’t already dead, of course...”

Nigel leaned closer and kissed Lee as his heart rate finally came down. “It had to be a bear fight, baby,” he smiled. Even for him, that was … fucking crazy to do. It wasn’t just the car he was trying to save, he didn’t want the bear coming to the house for Lee. 

“My hero,” Lee sighed, and palmed Nigel’s chest with one hand once he had the gauze taped down, and wrapped it up to keep it dry. “You scared the pee out of Beauty.”

“I’m sorry, little one,” Nigel said, and petted Beauty again, who reached up to him with both paws. He picked her up, like he used to do when she was frail and thin, when he’d first got her, and grunted as he held the big dog with both arms. “Poor girl. It’s okay.”

Lee wouldn’t express his own outward concern, he liked to think that he was pretty grounded, didn’t let those things get to him. He packed up the kit, steadying his hands and fit it back under the counter.

Nigel cuddled Beauty until she was calm again, then set her down, and hugged Lee. “Sorry, baby. I just … ran out there.”

Lee hadn’t fought that hard through cancer to live without Nigel. He wrapped his arms around his shoulders and nosed in against his neck, sighing.

Nigel could feel the shaky relief and lingering fear in Lee’s body as he held him, and rubbed his back. “It’s okay, I’m fine…”

Quiet for a few more minute, Lee finally sniffled and then pulled back, but didn’t let his hands off Nigel. “I should text Will and ask about keeping bears out…”

“Pretty sure he’s not interested now that the treats are gone, baby. You okay?” Nigel asked, concerned about Lee. He held Lee’s hands over his chest, rubbing them. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just … act. That’s how I am. I’m a fucking idiot sometimes.”

Lee shook his head. “Not scared. You did what you knew how to do. That’s more than I could say for myself.”

“We have these bears in Romania, not in the city, but I’ve heard stories,” he laughed. “Their noses are sensitive, can’t stand chilis,” he said, and rubbed Lee’s back, slowly, calming them both. 

“I would have never known to do that,” Lee whispered, resting their faces together, calming himself as he centered his own breathing.

“Yeah, but no one else can calm me down when I’m pissed off. You’re a bear charmer. I’m just … some guy who throws kitchen supplies at them,” Nigel chuckled, and kissed Lee’s lips, softly, reassuring him that he was still there, he was okay.

“I’ve charmed you from the start,” Lee whispered again, still breathing a little raggedly through his nose, but his hands had stopped shaking, trying to calm Nigel more than himself.

“Yeah, you sure as hell did,” Nigel smiled, and kissed Lee, gently, then sneezed, a little of the spice in his nose. “Ugh … “

“Milk?” Lee asked, not sure how to remedy this.

“Do we have some?” Nigel asked, and tried to wipe his eyes that were tearing faster, now that his adrenaline was wearing off. 

“Uh…” Lee shrugged, going to look around, not likely though. He did find powdered milk in the cabinet. “Will mixing it up… help?”

“I’ll fucking try it,” Nigel said, and sneezed again, then rubbed at his eye with one hand and cursed. “It’s on my fucking hands, too.”

“Don’t rub!” Lee chided, and turned on the hot water to warm up and then put Nigel’s hand under it. He took down the powdered milk and quickly whipped some up, hoping it would help.

Nigel grunted, and sighed, eyes closed, waiting for Lee to mix the milk as he sneezed, again. “Starting to feel bad for that fucking bear…”

“If there had been another way…” Lee insisted, and then  leaned Nigel over the sink to start flushing his eyes with the milk water.

“I could have shot him but my gun’s not big enough to hurt the bastard,” Nigel sighed, and leaned over the sink. The milk felt like instant, cooling relief, and he sighed, letting his head sink now that the sting was gone. 

“Is it working?” Lee asked, his phone dinging on the counter. A look over and it was from Will. “Keep flushing.” Lee said, setting the bowl in the sink so Nigel could rinse his eyes with it. He picked up his phone. “Will says there’s bear spray in the closet and a shotgun under the desk, ammo in the locked drawer.”

Nigel did as Lee told him, and laughed to himself. “Well, now we know,” he sighed, and straightened up, sneezing milk through his nose, which was, frankly, a relief. “I need a fucking shower or something now.”

“We can scrub all of that chili off you,” Lee crooned into Nigel’s ear, putting the phone down. “And then take your car into the local body shop in town to get fixed. We can look around there…”

“Okay,” Nigel agreed, and wiped his face with the back of his arm, then kissed Lee’s forehead. “What a fucking morning.”

“C’mon, my bear,” Lee said, tugging Nigel’s shirt toward his head, and leading him up the stairs once more to the bathroom.

Nigel tossed his bloodied, milk-and-spice-covered shirt on the counter, and followed Lee, with Beauty at their heels. “Gonna join me? Help scrub all this shit off?” Nigel asked, hopefully, as they headed into the small, but cozy bathroom.

“How could I not?” Lee grinned, throwing his own sweater off and then slipped out of his jeans.

Nigel kissed Lee, getting them both messy as he undid his own jeans, and slid them down his thighs. He’d dressed too fast for socks, and kicking off his pants made him completely, perfectly naked. 

Lee leaned over and turned the water on, letting it heat up a few minutes, distracting himself with the taste of Nigel’s heated and spicy lips. “Mmm.”

“You like spice?” Nigel purred, and stepped under the spray with a sigh, pulling Lee in after him. To his surprise, Beauty climbed in, too.

“I’m from New Orleans, we live for spice,” Lee explained against Nigel’s mouth, warm against Nigel as the water sprayed down. “I guess Beauty needed a bath, too.”

Nigel laughed, and kissed Lee again, not minding the dog who seemed to enjoy the warm water. “Family shower…”

Lee hummed into the kiss, and bit Nigel’s lip. “Don’t mind her…”

“Nope, just a dog in the shower, nothing strange here,” Nigel laughed, still kissing Lee. 

Lee laughed right back and kissed Nigel deeper, arms tighter around him. “Just keep kissing me.”

Nigel obeyed, and kissed Lee again, tipping his head up with one hand to press their lips together, over and over as the steam built around them, in soft clouds.

Lee gripped Nigel’s hip and pulled him closer, rubbing their growing erections together, hitching his leg over his hip. “Nigel…”

Nigel pressed Lee against the wall, and kissed him harder, tangling their tongues together as he ground against his husband. “Lee…”

Lee groaned, realizing they hadn’t stocked the bathroom yet. “Did we… leave the lube out there?” he asked, between heated, hot kisses.

“Fuck … yes,” Nigel moaned, and wrapped one hand around Lee’s cock, stroking slowly.

Lee’s head rolled back against the wall and he pulled Nigel in for another kiss, rutting his hips into Nigel’s hand. “This is nice, too, though.”

“Yeah, more than nice,” Nigel whispered back, and ground the heel of his palm against Lee’s cock, slowly and firmly, working him up as the hot water rinsed everything off of them.

Lee reached for Nigel’s erection, letting the water slick his path, slowly, working from base to tip. “I love how hard you get for me,” Lee murmured against his husband’s lips.

“Can’t fucking help it, baby,” Nigel purred, and pressed himself into Lee’s palm as he gripped Lee with his own hand, sure that the pepper had rinsed off it by now. “Just looking at you makes me hard.”

“How horrible for you,” Lee crooned and bit Nigel’s lip, thumbing the tip of his cock. “How do you get anything done?”

“I get you done,” Nigel moaned, and used his other hand to tug at Lee’s balls as hot water pelted them both. 

Heat coiled in Lee’s core, his fist working over Nigel faster now, panting against his mouth. “Always.”

Nigel knew the signs of his husband’s body careening closer to orgasm, and nipped at Lee’s lower lip for it. “Love the way you look when you’re going to come, baby. Flushed all over, those hard little nipples, your throat moving while you gasp,” Nigel moaned, and bit the side of Lee’s throat, both hands working at Lee’s cock, and his balls at the same time.

Lee’s whole body started to shake, pent up, like fire rushing through this veins, and spilling through the backs of his thighs as they tensed, his toes curling. Squeezing Nigel’s cock in one hand, Lee pivoted his hips forward, panting hard as he came all over Nigel’s knuckles.

Nigel swore, the sound shaking in his throat, and bit Lee’s neck as he followed. “Fuck, Lee, fuck-” he moaned, breathlessly, into Lee’s ear as he spilled down Lee’s fingers, hot and white. It didn’t matter how many times they fucked, Lee always made him want more.

“Oh, fuck-” Lee groaned, riding out the waves of pleasure, until they stilled, and the water washed the come off them both. 

Nigel panted against Lee’s neck, and kissed the skin when it vibrated with a groan, then looked at his gorgeous husband. “Can’t get sick of you, baby.”

“I hope not,” Lee sighed, and reached for the shampoo to make sure the chili was out of Nigel’s hair, working suds into the longer, silver locks.

Nigel grunted at the feeling of Lee shampooing his hair, and bowed his head forward with a little smile, and closed eyes, his trust in Lee absolute. “You really don’t want a fucking present? Nothing?”

“I have everything I want,” Lee said, matter of factly, and kissed Nigel’s lips once and then moved him so the water rinsed his hair.

Nigel smiled at that, and kissed Lee again as he wrapped both large arms around him, then chuckled. “Bear repellant?”

“Now why would I want to keep you away?” Lee laughed, smiling brightly up at his husband, arms around his shoulders.

Nigel laughed at that, and nibbled Lee’s earlobe, then kissed his lips as he cupped Lee’s adorable face with both hands. “You fucking couldn’t, baby. I’m addicted to you.”

Lee reached back and turned the water off. He nuzzled against Nigel’s face. “Good. Because I can’t live without you.”

The bathroom was still hot, thick with steam, and Nigel was in no hurry to open the door and let the cool air of the rest of the cabin inside. “What do you love more, me, or wine?”

“That’s not fair,” Lee chuckled, keeping his limbs tightly around Nigel, giving it some very serious thought. “...You.”

Nigel smirked at Lee, and stepped out of the shower, keeping Lee’s slim frame in his arms. “Did I win by a fucking hair?”

“By a sip,” Lee teased, rubbing their noses together, blinding taking steps backwards, trusting Nigel completely.

Nigel grabbed a towel from the wall, blindly, and used it to dry Lee’s short hair. “Good fucking thing, I’d hate to lose to something with a fucking cork in it,” he murmured as he wrapped the towel around Lee’s hips, and tugged him closer by it, utterly in love. 

"You will always win over everything else in my life,” Lee whispered, grabbing the other towel, he dried Nigel’s hair  and then wrapped it around his hips, too, both of them holding each other’s towels, keeping them close.

Nigel melted a little at that, his dark eyes going soft, and kissed Lee on the lips, again, softly, then rested their faces together for a moment. “You need to fucking eat something, baby.”

“I only brought snacks,” Lee said, quietly, smiling as they conversation drifted to more of Nigel’s worries. “We can take your car in and grab something to eat in town.”

Nigel used to scrounge and steal as a child to feed himself. Food was survival, or part of it, and his instinct to keep Lee fed was proof of his primal love for him. “We can sure as fuck try,” Nigel laughed, thinking of the shape it was in. “It should still run if the fucking bear hasn’t come back to finish it off.”

“Good. Because I’m starved, and even I can’t live on wine alone,” Lee said with a smile and pulled Nigel close by the towel again, kissing him once.

“Okay, okay,” Nigel grumbled, warmly, and opened the door to let Beauty out, who had been drying on the bath mat while her owners became distracted by each other,  _ again _ . “Clothes, car, food…”

“Yes.” Lee shivered as the cool air hit them, blindly reaching behind them as the bed came into view, where their bags still were from last night, since they never made it up stairs.

Nigel pulled a blanket from where it sat in a chair by the window, and tossed it over his shivering husband, then started to dress. “I’ll go warm up the car.”

Lee laughed, and shook the blanket off, and started to sort through their things. He hadn’t brought much, but put on the change of clothes he had packed. A soft thermal shirt and a thick flannel over shirt, clean jeans. “Okay. Assess the damage while you’re at it.”

“Done. Door’s fucked up, windows busted,” Nigel laughed, and then wrapped the blanket around Beauty when she jumped up on the bed, and let himself out of the room. A moment later, the car’s big engine roared to life, after a rough start in the cold.

Lee rolled his eyes and then walked down stairs, made sure Beauty had food and water, and then tugged on his boots and his coat. He grabbed the cabin key, and locked up. On closer inspection, the door was almost completely off the hinges. “Oh, worse than I thought.”

Not only was the door was almost off the hinges, the driver’s side window was gone, save for a couple shards around the bottom, and the windshield itself was crackled. Long, thick claw marks ripped the leather of the seats, and the glove box bore its share of claw marks as well. Nigel sighed. “We fucked in this car…” Nigel sighed, wistfully.

“On our first date,” Lee sighed, touching Nigel's arm, and then got in. “Hopefully it can be fixed. Looks like we will be here longer than expected though.”

Nigel sighed. He could have his men bring a fucking car, of course, but this was the car they had their first date in. It was the fucking car Nigel had stuffed Beauty into after carrying her out of her old, run down home that was too much like where he grew up. He wasn’t getting rid of the damn car. “Yeah, that’s fine,” Nigel nodded, and held the door shut with one arm over the broken open window as he drove toward the road, slowly. “Bundle up, baby. Gonna get windy.”

Lee zipped up his jacket, and tugged the blanket from the back out, just to make Nigel happy, of course. “We’ll make it worth it.”

Nigel looked over, dark eyes moving over Lee to make sure he was well covered up, and nodded his approval as he picked up speed, muscles in his left arm flexing as he held the door on. “We’ll get some fucking tape or something and keep the door on for now,” he said, voice raised over the rush of wind through the broken window. A moose watched them drive by from within the forest, placidly.

“Just take it in, we’ll rent a car or get someone to drive us back,” Lee insisted, shivering even under the layers.

“We’re not having some asshole we don’t even know drive us around,” Nigel said with a sigh. “We’ll rent a car,” he grumbled, shivering as he drove, his jaw clenched as the frigid wind made his exposed skin start to burn and ache. 

“Maybe we should have called a tow-truck,” Lee said, louder, over the rushing wind.

“We’re almost there!” Nigel called back, and tried to flex his hand against the door, but it was numb, even through the thick glove Lee bought him that he’d thought looked fucking ridiculous before. “Put the blanket over your head,” he said, teeth starting to chatter. Frost started to form on the inside of the windshield, on the steering wheel.

Lee reached over to put the defrost on, and then did as Nigel said, and coughed once into the blanket, even though it full of dog fur.

Nigel grimaced as his skin started to go completely numb, and he finally slowed down once they reached the small, upscale tourist town. “Fuck me fucking sideways…” he swore as the wind stopped pelting his face. His left ear and jaw were completely numb, the rest of his exposed skin was burning hard. “Okay, baby, we slowed down. Uncover, it looks like I’m fucking kidnapping you.”

Lee smiled and popped his head out and put the blanket in the back, looking over at Nigel. “I hope you don’t get frostbite.”

“Won’t be the first time,” he muttered, but stole a look at Lee as he pulled the car into a gas station with a garage around back, and parked it. “Should have just driven here, got a fucking car and went back to get you.”

“Could have, but I was starving,” Lee said, and got out, arms wrapped around himself as he never quite predicted just how cold it could be.

Nigel got out, stiff from the cold, and left the door hanging on the hinge. “I gotta talk to a mechanic, go find a coffee or something down the street, I’ll follow you.”

Brows raised at that, Lee shrugged his shoulders and headed the opposite direction. He stuffed his gloved hands into his pockets, hood up on his jacket, wishing he had thought to bring his beanie, ears cold. He wandered until he found a cafe. He went to the counter and ordered two coffees, and a pastry with jam stuffed inside of it.

A moment later, Nigel stepped into the upscale cafe full of ski-resort tourists. Heads turned at his presence, and he glowered at them before heading to his husband. “Gonna take a while to fix, mechanic will arrange for a replacement car by the time we get done shopping,” Nigel explained as he sat opposite Lee, and smiled at him, eyes shining. 

Lee scooted the other coffee over to Nigel. “Good to know. We should get more groceries for the cabin.” He picked apart the pastry and stuffed a bite into his mouth.

“Thanks,” Nigel said, and took a bite of the pastry. “I thought you were fucking starving…”

“Pastry will hold us both over. They didn’t have much here, it was pastries and fancy stuff. I just want pancakes,” Lee said, with a quieter tone as he leaned forward. “But they said they only do crepes.”

Nigel made a disgusted noise. “What kind of place makes fucking crepes and not pancakes!?” he exclaimed loudly enough to turn heads. He glared at a woman with a plate full of crepes, and she looked away. “Crepes are fucking useless, like eating paper filled with bullshit. Let’s get the fuck out of here and get you some real food …  _ crepes _ … Crepes can kiss my ass.” 

Lee just laughed, picking up his to go cup of coffee, and left the pastry to be thrown out by the attentive people who swarmed to clean the table once they left. “We’re bound to find another place.”

Nigel kept muttering about rich people and their fucking pretentious food that doesn’t really feed people on the way out, under his breath, but held the door for Lee, and took his hand. “Just get some fucking mix and bacon and we’ll make it at home…”

Lee looked longingly back at the pastry he left as Nigel said that, but took his free hand instead. “I’m hungry now. We can make more later, but I need something,” Lee said, resting his cheek against Nigel’s shoulder.

“Okay, baby,” Nigel said, and nodded at a man walking down the street. “ _ You _ . Where’s a good place to eat around here? No shitty tiny portions? Somewhere with pancakes,” Nigel demanded. 

The man looked accosted, but  pointed, “There’s a pancake place a block that way, not fancy, but okay,” he said.

Nigel eased up and stepped back, thanking him with a nod before he tugged Lee toward it. “There we go…”

Lee sipped his coffee as they walked, warming him from the inside out. “Thank you,” he said. Honestly, he was still not used to the level of command Nigel had, and how people just seemed to bend for him.

Nigel exuded authority, and always had, he used it to get what he needed, and right now, he needed some pancakes for his husband. “Better than looking around while you’re hungry,” Nigel said with a shrug, and crossed the street, hand in hand with Lee. 

“True,” Lee said quietly, and then tossed his coffee cup into the nearby garbage, and then walked up to the small restaurant. The smells wafting from inside were enough to make Lee’s stomach grumble loudly.

The restaurant looked full of locals, not tourists, which was a good sign, and they were given a booth quickly, with two cups of coffee. “You know what you want already, or do you need to even look at the menu?” Nigel asked his husband, while the waitress was still there. 

“Pancakes, big stack of ‘em,” Lee told the woman, motioning to how high he wanted them. “With blueberries, please, if you can.”

“Bacon, scrambled eggs, toast, pancakes,” Nigel said, simply. The waitress nodded and went off to put the order in. Nigel pulled his gloves off, and rubbed his thawing hands. His ear and jaw hurt as they warmed, slowly. 

Lee took his mug in one hand and then Nigel’s hand with the other. “God, you’re still freezing.”

“I’ve had worse,” he sighed, his other hand wrapped around his coffee mug as he looked at Lee with an intense, dark stare. “Not going to lose any fucking fingers over it,” he said, with a little smirk, and sipped his coffee.

“I hope not. I still need those,” Lee hummed as took a sip of hot coffee, warming him through as the liquid slipped down his throat.

Nigel chuckled, and curled his cold, sore fingers in Lee’s palm. “Damn right you do.”

“I know lots of ways to warm them up,” Lee said,  a smirk playing across his lips slowly, lighting his big, blue eyes.

“I might need that later,” Nigel flirted back, and let their knees touch under the table.

“Always happy to help,” Lee said, pressing his knees against Nigel’s and sipped his coffee. “You just tell me when and  _ where _ .”

Nigel groaned at that, and took Lee’s hand, bringing it closer, then kissed his knuckles. “How the fuck did I get so lucky? Gorgeous guy like you, ass of an angel, can’t get enough of me…”

“That’s a good question, “Lee grinned, watching the way his wedding band shone from the light over them. “I can’t believe sometimes that someone who could have anyone wanted me…”

“Why the fuck wouldn’t someone want you? You’re perfect,” Nigel rumbled, gazing at Lee with all the devoted passion in the world. He assumed everyone saw what he did in Lee, and therefore everyone wanted him.

Lee’s grin reached his eyes again and he flitted his fingertips over Nigel’s perfect lips. “We’re not all made for everyone. I believe that there is one person out there that we are made for, that we fit with … destiny.”

“You think we’re made for each other, huh?” Nigel asked, with soft eyes. The romantic in him, buried deep, deep under layers of gritty, intimidating gangster, absolutely melted when Lee said that, and believed it, wholeheartedly.

“Yes. I do,” Lee said, leaning closer, tipping Nigel’s face toward his to kiss his lips gently. “I have since the day you wouldn’t let me go to treatment alone. I  _ knew _ .”

Nigel smiled, and kissed Lee back, beaming as he did. “Only a shithead would have let you go get that crap pumped into your veins and then run home by yourself,” he whispered, and nuzzled Lee before pulling back when their waitress walked up to their table and set down their massive plates.

“Guess I’ve either known a lot of shitheads, or I was never honest enough,” Lee explained. He thanked the waitress and dug into his blueberry pancakes, slathered in butter and syrup. He groaned at the first bite, berries popping warmly in his mouth, spreading sweetness over his tongue.

Nigel chuckled at Lee’s reaction, and dug into his own plate. “Good?”

“Yes,” Lee murmured around another forkful, so hungry anything would have been good right now, but the pancakes hit just the right spot.

Nigel put a couple pieces of bacon on Lee’s plate, and kept eating, realizing just how hungry he was, too. “We’ve got to get some fucking bacon and eggs for the cabin.”

Lee pushed the bacon into his mouth with a hum. “We really do. I prefer your bacon anyway,” he flirted, winking at his husband as he swallowed his bite.

“You mean my sausage,” Nigel purred back, never tired of flirting with his utterly breathtaking husband. “You can’t get enough of that.”

Lee's eyes darkened, and he reached under the table to smoothed a hand up Nigel's thigh. “I can't. You're right.”

Nigel smirked at Lee, and let out a long, content sigh when Lee touched his leg. “Fucking love you, baby.”

Lee shoved another bite into his mouth, smiling around his fork at Nigel. He chewed and swallowed before leaning over to press a sticky kiss to Nigel’s lips. “I love you, too, my bear.”

A thin man with eyes like a basset hound and trendy facial hair stopped by their table. “Hey, sorry, um, can I borrow your syrup? We’re out…” he said, awkwardly. Nigel shot him a piercing look for interrupting, then looked at Lee.    
  
“You done with this, baby?” he asked his husband, hand on the syrup, possessive of it until Lee said he was done.

Lee raised his brows at Nigel.“I’m done. All yours,” he said to the other man.

Nigel pushed the syrup to the other man like a bartender, and it stopped right at the edge of the table. “Thanks,” the man nodded, and took it, “we’ll bring it right back,” he promised and took the syrup to another table. Sitting at the other table was a woman with paper-white skin and brilliant red hair who was putting on her jacket in a hurry. “Gabi? What’s the matter?” the clueless man called over.

The name was common enough, and Lee had never seen any pictures of Nigel’s ex to know, but he did turn just a little to look, lips pressed together. She was leaving in an awful big hurry, and avoiding looking at his husband. Lee held his breath, just waiting for the ball to drop.

Nigel looked up at the name, and his eyes narrowed as Gabi looked over at him, caught. He blinked once, and shifted his jaw as he looked at her, expression unreadable. “Well, I’ll be fucking damned…” he said, as she took the other man’s hand and told him to get his coat.

The couple had a hurried, whispered conversation, the only thing anyone else could hear was the thin man exclaiming “that’s  _ Nigel _ !?” 

Nigel stood, slowly, and Gabi led the other man toward the exit, past Nigel, then stopped and nodded at him, then Lee. “Nigel…” she said, her accent stronger than his.    
  
“Gabi. What the fuck are you doing here?” he asked, coldly.   
  
“Vacation,” she said, evasively, staring at Nigel for a long moment. “We’re leaving.”   
  
“Bring my fucking syrup back, first,” he said, glaring at the other man, “what the fuck is your name?”   
  
“Charlie,” the man replied, awkwardly, and shifted from foot to foot, then looked at Lee before he brought the syrup back. “And … uh, you are?” he asked Lee, trying to be friendly.   
  
“ _ Don’t ask _ ,” Gabi hushed Charlie, under her breath.   
  
“This is Lee, my  _ husband _ . Lee, this is Gabi, and … apparently some asshole named Charlie,” Nigel said, staying near the table, tense.

Lee had wiped his hands and was standing now that Nigel gave him room to answer for himself, and offered his hand to Charlie and then Gabi. “Lee. As Nigel said. It’s good to meet you, both.” Gabi had a standoffish vibe to her, and Charlie was… well Lee only really got his laid back nature, but there was a lot of tension behind him too.

Gabi stared at Lee, shocked, then looked at Nigel, and shook her head. “Don’t be funny, Nigel.”   
  
Nigel arched his eyebrow, “I beg your  _ fucking _ pardon, Gabi? This is my husband, Lee. Don’t be a fucking bitch, he’s got fucking manners and actually  _ goes _ to the weddings he’s in.”   
  
Gabi swore in Romanian at Nigel, incredulous and gestured to Lee, surprised. Nigel took Lee’s hand, tightly, lacing their fingers together. “Does this one know you run off?  Say you’ll go through with something and bolt? I wouldn’t spend too much fucking money on a ring for this one, Charlie, you’ll end up taking it back.”   
  
Charlie looked uncomfortable, and held up a hand as Gabi shook her head at Nigel. “We … should just … go, maybe. Nice meeting you guys, though … um … congrats.”

“Thank you,” Lee said, but shook his head, smiling, “but we’ve been married over a year now.” That might have added a little fuel to the fire, and Lee didn’t want to start anything, but it was clear that Gabi had never known Nigel the way she clearly thought she had.

Gabi still looked absolutely shocked, and stared at Lee like he’d hit her in the face with a brick. “You’re … serious?”

Nigel looked impatient, and his eyes started to go dark. “You’re insulting my  _ husband _ , Gabi. I told you back in Romania-”   
  
“You told me … a lot of things, I didn’t believe most of them-” she said, still thrown, but looked at Lee’s ring, eyebrows raised, then looked at him again, and tugged at Charlie’s hand. “We need to go. Come on, Charlie.”   
  
Nigel stepped aside, with a mocking sweep of his free hand, and a sharp look in his eyes. “Merry  _ fucking _ Christmas, Gabi, and don’t come to  _ this _ place again, we like it.”

Lee gave a little wave to the American kid, who looked back one more time before they left completely. Lee canted his head up at Nigel. “So…”

“So,” Nigel growled, glaring at the door for a long moment before he looked at Lee. “That’s my fucking ex.”

“Oh, I gathered that much,” Lee said, quietly, and matter of fact. “Could have just let her go. We didn’t need a scene.”

“ _ She _ made the fucking scene,” Nigel protested, “what’s so fucking hard to believe about my being married to you? She could have just said congratulations and left. How fucking hard would that have been?” Nigel’s hackles were up, of course.

“That’s true. I think she was surprised,” Lee suggested, sitting back down to finish his food. “Caught off guard that you’d find someone else that’s not her.”

Nigel watched Lee, then followed his lead, sitting down again, even if he wasn’t hungry now. “I got the fuck over it, I met someone better,” he smirked at Lee, and let their legs touch again, under the table as his heart slowed down. He’d been upset, riled up, ready to fight, but strangely enough … he hadn’t been _ jealous _ . Not even a little.

“Some people leave and hope that the other person will wait around for them. She might have thought you would, now she’s surprised and stuck with… Charlie,” Lee shook his head and finished off his pancakes, cold now.

“You mean the fucking hipster?” Nigel chuckled under his breath. It was liberating, incredibly so, not to feel the twisting agony of jealousy he was used to when he’d been with Gabi. It just wasn’t there, like it never had been at all.

Lee set down money for the food, and then stood, reaching for Nigel’s hand. “Let’s go get some groceries.”

“Okay,” Nigel agreed, calmer now, and took Lee’s hand, then stood to leave with him. “Hopefully they just fucking leave the whole place…”

“They have a right to be here,” Lee soothed, and leaned against Nigel’s arm as they walked out, making sure to zip up his coat first. “But the look on her face suggested she didn’t want to stay.”

“They’ll leave, she’s not the sort to stick around after trouble,” Nigel muttered, but looked over at Lee with a warmer look in his eyes as they walked out. “I upgraded.”

“Did you?” Lee slyly asked, leaning up to kiss the corner of Nigel’s mouth.

“I’d fucking say so,” Nigel smiled. Lee had a way of smoothing over his passionate emotions, calming him, making him happy with just a look and a few words. It was like magic. “I’m glad she didn’t show up for the wedding.”

“You’d be terribly unhappy,” Lee smiled back, hooking his arm around Nigel’s waist as they walked, keeping warm this way. “She… seems like a bitch.”

“She can be,” Nigel sighed, and wrapped his arm around Lee’s shoulders. “I’m happier with you. I didn’t know I could be this fucking happy with someone, not just … attached to them, but actually fucking happy, you know? It’s two different things. I guess I thought I was too fucked up for someone to like me and love me at the same time.”

“I think we both never realized that someone could actually love us and like us,” Lee sighed. His past was speckled with one night stands and flings, nothing ever even close to permanent. “But then we found each other.”

“Maybe you’re right, we were just meant to find each other,” Nigel said as snow started to fall around them, thick, feathery flakes that landed in Lee’s hair.

“We were,” Lee whispered, lifting his head to the sky to watch the flakes with a smile.

Nigel pulled Lee closer and kissed him, slowly and deeply, in the middle of the sidewalk, both arms around him as the snow fluttered down to rest in their hair, like confetti. Lee wrapped his arms around Nigel’s waist, cool lips meeting cool lips, but warming them thoroughly as they made out in the middle of town.

Nigel sighed, and pulled back to stare at Lee, up close. Before he had Lee, if he’d seen Gabi with someone new, it could have ended in murder. Now? He was happy again, without effort. “I got you something for Christmas,” he confessed. “Not big.”

“We said no gifts…” Lee blinked up at Nigel; he should have known.

“Just little,” Nigel said, almost shyly. “Nothing expensive. I got it on the way to the cafe.”

“Nigel…” Lee sighed, but nuzzled against his husband’s face. “And I’m guessing you can’t wait until Christmas to give it to me either…”

“Maybe…” Nigel chuckled, and walked with Lee to the grocery store just down the street, opening the door for him, gallantly.

Lee rolled his eyes and then tugged a basket out of the line of carts, and started to push it, leaning over it so his ass stuck out a little.

Nigel noticed, immediately, and gave a soft grunt as he eyed it, “going to give you more than a fucking present if you keep walking like that.”

Lee glanced over his shoulder with a smirk, more than aware his ass was the only part of him not completely covered in puffy jacket or big boots. “Mm, like another spanking? Do I deserve one?” he asked, coy.

Nigel snuck a brush of his hand against Lee’s ass as he reached around him to pick up a carton of eggs from a cooler. “For being a little tease? Definitely…”

“You’d be so bored with me if I wasn’t one.” Lee grabbed the almond milk carton, too, and set it in the cart.

“I’d never be fucking bored with you,” Nigel purred, and brushed his hand over Lee’s back as he picked up some bacon, and tossed it into the cart. “But I don’t mind you being a little minx.”

“So long as you get your fun,” Lee commented with a wink. He tossed some whole grain bread into the basket, and then lead them over to the produce and picked out some apples.

“You seem to have a little fun, too,” Nigel said, distracted by his husband, barely noticing what went into the cart as he looked him over.

“I always have fun, Nigel,” Lee said over his shoulder, purposefully swaying his hips as he walked, pushing the cart.

Nigel sighed, heavily, and followed Lee, staring at his ass. “I try to make sure of that…” he purred, and brushed his hand against Lee’s ass as they turned the corner.

Lee put a few more things in the cart, not too much, but enough that they would eat. “We have wine decanting at the cabin to drink.”

“Do we?” Nigel asked, and let his hand rest against the small of Lee’s back. “I can’t fucking believe you turned me into a wine drinker,” he laughed.

“Do you want to pick up whiskey instead?” Lee offered, though it was not his favorite, he would indulge his husband now and then. He had a surprise of his own waiting at the cabin, packed away in one of the bags.

“Yeah, why the fuck not?” Nigel said, and wrapped an arm around Lee’s shoulders as they shopped. “It’s fucking Christmas.”

Lee guided the cart down the alcohol aisle, and looked at all the varieties available, biting the inside of his cheek. “How do you decide what you like?”

Nigel shrugged and picked a bottle, seemingly at random, then put it in the cart. “Like that.”

“There’s no… you don’t care?” Lee laughed, and moved them to the check out.

“It all tastes the fucking same,” Nigel explained as he set everything on the conveyer belt.

Lee rolled his eyes and paid for the food and gathered a few of the bags, waiting for Nigel to get the others. “Where are we getting this loaner car?”

Nigel looked at his phone, “should be ready now, we’ve been gone long enough. If not, we’ll take the mechanic’s fucking car,” he said, mostly joking as they headed toward the shop.

“My hero,” Lee sing-songed at his husband and walked out, back toward the shop they had left Nigel’s car.

They’d only gone a couple steps when a small, older car pulled up beside them, and the passenger window rolled down. “Hey, do you guys need a lift somewhere?” the voice from inside asked. It was Charlie, without Gabi.

Lee looked at Nigel, gauging his reaction. Charlie was a nice enough kid, he clearly didn’t want trouble, and wanted to clear the air. Lee found that admirable. “That would be nice. We just need to get to the mechanic on the other side of town.”

Nigel shot his husband a look as the door opened for them, and sighed, heavily, then let himself in the back seat, brooding. He wasn’t going to make Lee carry groceries across town, however, and reminded himself it was a short ride.   
  
Charlie gave them both a somewhat nervous smile. “It’s cold out …” he said, to break the silence. 

“That’s very thoughtful of you, thank you, Charlie,” Lee said as he got into the passenger seat, bags in his lap. “And it is cold. Nigel worries if I get too cold, I’m sure he’s very thankful for the offer, as well.”

Nigel shot Lee another look, lips pursed together, eyes dark as he struggled to cram his long legs into the tiny back seat. “Uh huh.”   
  
“No problem,” Charlie said, as he started to drive, “sorry about … all that back there. I mean, I had no idea when I asked for the syrup. I didn’t mean to start … stuff.”

“Of course you didn’t,” Lee sighed, clearly not bothered by the situation, as most things didn’t bother him. A deep breath in and out, and life moved on. He reached back to pat Nigel’s leg. “I think they were just surprised. Small world.”

Nigel loomed in the back of the cramped car, like a siberian tiger stuffed into a dog crate, seething quietly as he watched Charlie with narrowed eyes.    
  
“Yeah, exactly,” Charlie said, as he drove, and took a corner, “it’s just unexpected. So, where are you from, Lee?” he asked, sweating a little.

“Originally, New Orleans. We live in New Jersey at the moment though,” Lee said, doing his best to include Nigel in everything, even if his husband was silently planning Charlie’s death.

“Oh, no way, that’s … great. New Orleans is great,” Charlie said, as he shifted the car.

“And where are you from,  _ Charlie _ ?” Nigel asked, unable to keep a menacing undertone from the sound of his voice.   
  
“Chicago,” he answered, his voice just a little tighter and higher than normal.    
  
“Chicago,” Nigel echoed, thoughtfully. “I’ve got friends in Chicago.”   
  
“Oh …” Charlie said, almost to himself, quietly, and sweat a little harder as he looked at Nigel in the rear view mirror. “So … how’d you two meet?”

“I washed his dog,” Lee said with a little grin, glancing back at Nigel. “Now  _ our _ dog.”

“Really?” Charlie asked, with a little laugh that he squelched when he felt Nigel’s wide shoulders shift the balance of the car with a movement. “That’s amazing, I love dogs.”   
  
“Lots of people love dogs,” Nigel said, defensively, and put one hand on Lee’s shoulder, one finger against the side of Lee’s neck. “Lee captured my heart, right away.”

Lee nuzzled back against Nigel’s finger, just a little, tempted to bite at it, but thought better of it. “I don’t know that it was your heart I captured first, but…” he flirted.

Nigel chuckled at that, as did Charlie, nervously. “That’s great that you guys got married, everyone should be able to get married. Was it a … big wedding?”   
  
Nigel gave Charlie a suspicious look. Charlie was sucking up, and Nigel was not sure why the fuck that was, exactly. “No. It was a fucking tiny wedding. We wore blue jeans and went to the courthouse and I fucking loved it,” Nigel said, pointedly. “None of that flowery, useless bullshit.”

“We weren’t sure there’d be time to plan a wedding, so eloping to the courthouse seemed like the best choice,” Lee explained, gazing back at Nigel with that still very love sick look in his eyes.

“Why were you in a rush? Baby on the way?” Charlie joked, and then looked at Nigel, nervously, but Nigel just laughed, and looked at Lee. 

“Yeah. I knocked him up,” Nigel said, dryly.

“Almost ruined my girlish figure,” Lee teased, with a grin. “No, I was on treatment for cancer, and it was up in the air at the time whether or not I’d make it a week or three months.”

“Oh … I’m sorry. I mean, you’re doing good now though, you look great,” Charlie said, spreading one palm. 

Nigel raised an eyebrow at that. “Yeah, he does look great. Are you fucking hitting on my  _ husband _ , Charlie?”

“He was being nice,” Lee said, giving Nigel a sharp look, then his attention back on Charlie. Luckily the shop was coming up on their right. “Nigel got me the best care possible. I almost died, but… he gave me a reason to keep fighting.”

“No, no, no one’s hitting on  _ anyone _ ,” Charlie insisted, and pulled into the parking lot of the mechanic’s shop, breathing a little faster. “That’s great that you recovered. My … Mom didn’t. She died a while back. It was rough.”

Lee took a breath and then smiled at Charlie, touching his arm in a manner he used to when he taught meditation and yoga at the clinic. “My condolences. I’m sure she’s still watching over you. Thank you for the ride, Charlie, and for putting up with my husband.”

“No problem, have a good rest of your trip,” Charlie said, quickly. Nigel shot Charlie a look, then got out of the car, bags in hand, and managed to open Lee’s door for him.

“Take care, Charlie,” Lee said, and slipped out, hip checking the door closed, bags in hand. He looked at Nigel, knowingly. “I will never ever make friends because you are too busy burning holes in their heads with your eyes.”

“I didn’t fucking burn anyone, today,” Nigel muttered, and glared after Charlie’s car as it rolled out of the lot. “You can have all the friends you want, baby, just don’t want anyone fucking hitting on you.”

“He wasn’t hitting on me. He was nervous and trying to be nice.” Lee walked toward the mechanics office, waiting for Nigel.

Nigel followed, with a heavy sigh. “He said you were good looking.”

“He said I looked great, meaning I don’t look like I did when I was dying.” Lee leaned into the door and pushed it open, holding it with his foot. “I get that a lot from people who knew before recovery. ‘Oh you look great.’ Happens a lot.”

“He didn’t know you before you recovered,” Nigel pointed out, and nodded at the mechanic behind the counter, then took the forms for the loaner car, and signed with a scribble of a signature where he had to.

“Do you honestly think he came back to offer us a ride just to hit on me? In front of you?” Lee asked, head tilted to the side slightly as the keys were handed over to the SUV out front.

Nigel took the keys, and leaned against the door to open it, holding it for Lee as they walked out together. “I don’t fucking know. I don’t know him. People are fucked up.”

“I can get a good read on people, sometimes,” Lee said, not about to bring up his now dead once best friend. That was another story. “His energy isn’t malice.”  
“Mhm,” Nigel said as he unlocked the SUV and tossed the groceries into the back seat. “And what’s my energy?”

Lee set his bags down in the back and then pushed Nigel up against the car with his body. His husband could easily push him off if he wanted. “It’s mostly good with a few dark spots. You mean well. You love me, so you get to fill in those dark spots.”

Lee pinning him was actually sort of adorable. Nigel looked down at Lee with a subtle, world-weary smile, and touched Lee’s face. “I do fucking love you, Lee, more than anything. I just don’t trust  _ people _ .”

“I know, but sometimes you have to, even if you don’t want to,” Lee explained, and kissed Nigel chastely. “Now stop moping, or you won’t get your  _ present  _ later.”

Nigel chuckled at that, and kissed Lee back, softly. “What, I’m going to get some fucking coal instead?” he asked, holding Lee with one arm.

“I might do it,” Lee grinned, not missing a beat where Nigel hadn’t questioned Lee getting him something.

Lee bought Macy’s out of decorations on a whim, he was not surprised that his husband actually wanted a Christmas, with a gift to give, even if he insisted on not receiving anything. That was Lee. “So,  _ I _ was going to get a gift and have  _ nothing  _ to give you, like some asshole husband, huh?”

“It's not really something you keep. It's a thing, but…” Lee waved his hand, shrugging it off. “You'll see.”

Nigel frowned in confusion at that, “So … I don’t get to keep my present?” he asked, and kissed Lee’s forehead, then walked him to his side of the SUV and opened his door for him, like a fucking gentleman.

“Oh, it’ll be kept…” Lee said mischievously, and slipped into the SUV, having to hop up a little to get in.

Nigel shook his head at Lee and closed the door, then walked to his side and climbed in, starting it up. “So, how long do I have to wait for this present?” he asked, and started to drive them back to the cabin. Admittedly, the SUV was better in the snow than his low to the ground muscle car had been.

“That depends, do you want to wait until Christmas or do you want it early?” Lee asked, coyly. Christmas Eve the next day, so there wasn’t a lot of time to wait, but Lee wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to hide it.

“Early,” Nigel decided. He was too fucking curious to wait that long, and knew Lee was, too. Besides, he wanted to give Lee his present, and just bought it. “Fuck tradition.”

“We can spend Christmas doing other things than… presents,” Lee said with a grin, reaching over to trace his fingers up Nigel’s thigh.

“Fucking and drinking, the way baby Jesus would have wanted us to,” Nigel chuckled, and leaned over to bite at Lee’s jaw while he kept one eye on the road.

“Sounds like my kind of Christmas,” Lee sighed, happily, turning his head to bite Nigel back softly.

“Mine too, you can make me guess wines and laugh at how many I get wrong,” he promised, and laced his fingers with Lee’s on his thigh.

“Deal,” Lee said, grinning from ear to ear.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This concludes this story, but no worries, winodogs will be back in a bit with a long one-shot, and we're working on another too!

They reached the cabin quickly, and Nigel parked closer to the little log house this time, then hauled all of the groceries out, and carried them up the stairs. Beauty jumped at the window, excited to see them again, wagging. 

Lee got the last bag and pulled the key to the cabin out, getting up there first to push the door open for Nigel. He held it and then let Beauty out to pee, watching her in case of a bear, but luckily the bear seemed to be nowhere in sight.

Nigel carried everything in, and set it in the kitchen, then started another fire in the fireplace, and stepped out to watch Beauty sniff at the spots where the bear had been, tracking his movements. “Where did your brother say that fucking shotgun was?”

“Under the desk there,” Lee said, pointing to the weird desk, he assumed, was for fly fishing lure making. “The key to the house unlocks the drawer there for extra ammo.”

Nigel nodded, and whistled for Beauty, who came running over to them when he did so. “Just want to know in case that motherfucker shows his hairy face around here.”

“Let’s just make sure we don’t leave food in this car,” Lee joked, and then went into the house, leaving his boots by the door, jacket shed onto the couch, and started to put everything away into the fridge and pantry.

“There’s nothing in there,” Nigel assured his husband and took off his jacket and boots while Beauty laid by the fire and wagged. “If he comes back, it’s out of fucking spite and I’ll shoot him if I have to.”

Lee laughed, putting the last bit away and then leaned over the counter at Nigel. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”

Nigel walked closer to Lee, a smirk on his lips. “Want your present?”

“If you want to give it to me…” Lee grinned, gazing up at Nigel as he got closer.

“Okay, but it’s not a big deal,” Nigel warned Lee, and went to his jacket to pull out something rolled up in a shopping bag. He let Beauty sniff the socks and walked it over, then laid it on the counter. “Shitty wrapping.”

“Did you wrap it?” Lee asked, brows raised with a little smile as he held out his hands for it.

“No, it’s just in the fucking bag,” Nigel said, and put it in Lee’s hands with a sigh, wishing now that he had actually wrapped it first.    
  
Inside the bag were a pair of thick socks, grey with red trim at the top. Stitched at the bottom were a few words on each foot “If you can read this” on the sole of the right foot and “Bring me some WINE” on the bottom of the left foot.    
  
It was a silly gift, hardly expensive, or impressive, but it had reminded Nigel of Lee, and he had to pick them up.

Lee looked over the socks with a laugh, grinning mostly to himself. “Saw these and knew I just had to have them, didn’t you?”

Nigel smirked to himself, and walked around the counter to wrap one arm around Lee’s slim waist. “Of fucking course I did. I  _ know _ you.”

“Shall I put them on now, or do you want your present first?” Lee asked, carefully, giving Nigel a flirtatious look.

“Put them on … then present,” Nigel decided after contemplating Lee with a shift of his strong jaw, watching him with curious, dark eyes.

Lee toed off his other socks and leaned over to put on the new ones, nice warm and fuzzy. They wouldn’t stay on, just long enough for him to get upstairs. “How do they look?”

“Cute as fuck,” Nigel said, looking down at Lee’s feet. They were always cold, anyway, the wino-socks would keep them warm. “So … what is this present?”

“I have to go get it, so stay here,” Lee commanded, the best he could, and kissed Nigel once. He jogged up the stairs, and shut the bedroom door. He was gone twenty minutes, deciding at the last second that maybe he should go all the way here, and took the time.

Finally deciding it was perfect, he threw a robe on that was left there, probably Will’s-- he’d wash it later. Lee walked back down the stairs. “Sit on the couch.”

Nigel raised a pale eyebrow and noticed Lee had changed. He opened his mouth, but said nothing, just strode to the couch, turned, and sat down, thighs spread. “Alright. I’m fucking sitting …” he murmured, eyes roving over Lee, curiously.

What was seen of Lee’s feet and muscular calves were covered in silky black nylon, the rest of whatever was on underneath was covered by the robe. He strolled over to his husband, as confident as ever, standing in front of him. He wasn’t sure if this was Nigel’s sort of thing, but…

“If you hate it, we’ll forget it ever happened,” Lee stated, first off, and then slowly undid the robe, revealing thigh high stocking,clipped to a black garter that ran down his well toned thighs. Lacy black panties accompanied the garter, satin at the crotch and frilly toward the back, leaving near nothing to the imagination.

Nigel’s jaw dropped when Lee undid the robe. He’d seen this sort of thing on women before, of course, but … For some reason, he’d never considered the way lace and silk and  _ frills  _ might look on a man.  It took him a moment to generate a sound at all, and licked his full lips, “Jesus  _ Christ _ , baby.”

Lee had even shaved his legs, leaving them silky smooth under the nylon. The things he did for Nigel, to keep him always guessing. He stepped forward, between Nigel’s legs, dropping the robe Completely. “Merry Christmas, Nigel…”

Nigel raised one broad, warm palm to the side of Lee’s nylon-covered thigh, and ran his hand down, then up the graceful muscle, and around to Lee’s ass, able to feel ruffles over the firm muscle. “C’mere…” he purred, and pulled Lee into his lap, already hard just from looking at his husband, all dolled up. “Look at you, all …  _ pretty _ …”

Nigel’s reaction was the one Lee had hoped for as he planted himself in Nigel’s lap, straddling him, stretching the panties out over his ass and bulge. He leaned in and bit Nigel’s lip once, licking it. “I’ll wear it now through Christmas if you want…”

Nigel ran his rough hands over the backs of Lee’s thighs, and snapped one of the garter straps with a dark gleam in his eyes. “If I don’t rip it off of your with my fucking teeth, you mean…”

“We can buy others,” Lee said, his voice husky, eyes burning darker with lust. “I can wear them under my jeans…”

Nigel ran his hands over Lee’s ass again, and nuzzled Lee’s bare chest, then spanked him, through the lace and satin. “We’re going to buy a fucking load of these things. You are the  _ sexies _  thing I’ve ever fucking seen, baby,” Nigel whispered, his teeth scraping Lee’s lips as he growled out the words. 

Lee grinned against Nigel’s mouth and then kissed him hard for it, arching his ass back into his palm with a groan. Working his fingers over Nigel’s shirt, he undid the buttons one by one to reveal his furry chest. “Good.”

Nigel sucked Lee’s tongue, slowly, then pulled away, chest heaving as Lee stripped him. “I want to see. Stand up, turn around, and show me your pretty ass,” Nigel commanded, able to feel his cock throbbing where it was trapped against his thigh in his jeans.

Lee bit his own lip as he stood, turning around and presenting his ass to Nigel, head craned over his shoulder to gauge his reaction. “Well?”

Nigel’s eyes gleamed as he looked over Lee’s ass, and leaned closer to bite at the exposed flesh of his cheek, just at the edge of the lace. Nigel’s big palms slid up the fronts of Lee’s thighs, and he began to rub at the bulge in the front of the delicate panties Lee wore, making them stretch a little harder.

His head falling forward, Lee closed his eyes as Nigel fondled him, nylon clad toes curling into the bare wood floors of the room, cool under his feet. “Mm…”

“You even shaved your legs…” Nigel moaned, his other hand skimming Lee’s thigh above the lacy edge of his stocking. “You fucking minx,” he purred, and arched against Lee’s ass, letting him feel the hot, solid bulge through the denim of his jeans. “Feel that. You fucking did that with all this…” Nigel whispered, hotly, in Lee’s ear, still rubbing him, teasing his cock like he was daring it to break the scanty garments.

Lee let go of a shaky, wanton breath, reaching behind him to tug Nigel’s closer against his ass, grinding back against him. “All that… just for me?” he asked, innocently, tipping his head back to look at Nigel.

“Yeah baby, just for you and your pretty little ass,” Nigel whispered, and stared into Lee’s big blue eyes as he ran his fingertips under the edge of Lee’s panties to tease his cock a little more. “These little things can barely hold you…”

“Not once you’ve riled me up,” Lee whispered, biting a kiss against Nigel’s jaw, hips moving forward for more of his touch there this time.

“I fucking love them,” Nigel whispered, and gave Lee’s ass a firm slap with his free hand, hard enough to make his muscle quiver under the lace. “I want to pull them to the side and fuck you while you’re still wearing everything…”

“Is that what Daddy wants?” Lee crooned, sultry and dark as he bent forward slightly, hinging at the hip.

“That’s exactly what Daddy wants,” Nigel rumbled, and swore that he was so turned on that he was actually shaking as he pulled the delicate little panties to the side, and looked at Lee’s ass, framed with lingerie. 

“How will you do it? Bend me over the coffee table? Take me against the wall?” Lee smirked back over his shoulder again, jutting his ass out that much more.

Lee was absolutely wanton. All dressed up like this, smooth and pretty, Nigel was shaken by how much he wanted it. “Daddy’s got to decide. Why don’t you walk over to the other room and get us some lube? Nice and slow, so I can watch and think about how I want to stick my cock in you…”

Lee leaned back and kissed Nigel’s lips chastely, and then sauntered back slowly to the kitchen, where the bag was left earlier with all the things they’d brought for fun. He rummaged through and then a minute later, walked back in, presenting the bottle to his husband. “Decided?”

“Yeah,” Nigel said, his pants undone now, cock out, throbbing against his stomach as he watched Lee walk away, and back to him again. “Sit down again, in my lap,” he ordered, and rubbed his thigh where he wanted Lee.

“How?” Lee asked, coming to stand in front of Nigel again. “Straddling? To the side? Over your knees?”

“Over my knees,” Nigel said, with a slow smirk, aware Lee knew exactly what that position meant. “Pretty ass in the air, the way you like it.”

“The way  _ you _ like it, too,” Lee said with knowing look as he got down and spread himself out over Nigel’s knees, his own tucked under his husband’s, hands resting against his thigh. Lee’s frilly covered ass presented, the panties rode up a little bit, trapping his cock and exposing his ass through the thin fabric.

“Who the fuck wouldn’t like this view?” Nigel asked, and stroked his hand over Lee’s ass, then scraped his nails over the bear claw tattoos in his flesh, slowly, sensitizing his skin with the touch.

The claws of the tattoo peeked out just enough where the panties rode higher the more turned on Lee became. His toes curled against the floor once more with anticipation. “Just you I hope…”

“Goddamned right, just me,” Nigel rasped, and then slapped Lee’s ass cheek, hard enough to leave a pink mark over Lee’s black tattoo. “No one else is going to see this. If they ever fucking did, I’d take their eyes out.”

Hissing at the sting of the slap, Lee rubbed his hips and strained cock against Nigel’s leg. “I’d expect nothing less.”

“Before I fucking killed them,” Nigel assured Lee, and spanked Lee again, twice. “Trying to grind against my leg, baby? You’ll get off when I  _ say _ you can,” he reminded Lee, leaning down to whisper in Lee’s ear.

The satiny glide of the panties was too alluring not to rub into his hot skin, but Lee stilled, sucking in a breath as it hitched in his throat. “Yes, Daddy.”

“Good boy,” Nigel whispered, and felt his cock twitch when Lee called him that. “If I feel yourself rubbing your cock on me, I’ll stop,” he threatened and let Lee hear him open the lube, smearing it over his fingers. He moved slowly, torturing Lee with anticipation as he slid the flimsy, filmy ruffles of the panties aside, and rubbed two wet fingertips against his entrance.

Control wasn’t really one of Lee’s good points, but he concentrated on it rather than the need to push into his husband’s perfectly long fingers. He bit his own lip, fingers tight against Nigel’s outer thigh.

Nigel knew damn well Lee was an impulsive creature, and making him be still, making him wait was only going to make him come harder in the end. Nigel pressed both fingers into Lee’s ass, slowly, and began to pump them, in and out, curling them so that they brushed against the most sensitive part of him, buried inside. “You have the tightest most perfect ass, no matter how many times I fuck you.”

Moaning, Lee chanced a glance over at Nigel, big blue eyes dark with lust, just small bits of his iris left. “All that jogging that you hate that I do,” he said, teasingly, knowing full well that had  _ nothing _ to do with it.

“I don’t care what it is, I fucking love it,” Nigel moaned, his cock starting to drip as he fingered his husband, and rewarded him with a rock of his thigh against Lee’s cock.

“Mm…” Lee managed to hum, swallowing down the the rest of another groan, taking everything inside of himself not to hump Nigel’s leg right there.

Nigel twisted his fingers slowly, then spread them, scissoring them inside Lee as he lubed his cock with the other hand, right where Lee could see it. “You’re being a good boy, trying so hard-” Nigel moaned, then pulled his fingers out of Lee, and pulled him into his lap.    
  
“Straddle me, I want to watch your pretty face as you sink over my cock,” Nigel ordered, and gave Lee’s ass another slap for good measure.

Lee held the panties out of the way and guided himself down over Nigel’s cock, slowly impaling himself, right down to the hilt. A flush crept up along his shoulders up to his ears, pinkening his cheeks as he rolled his hips down to take Nigel in as deep as he would go. “Daddy…”

Lee’s cheeks went rosy, and Nigel groaned as Lee’s body, hot and tight as always, wrapped around him and squeezed his cock perfectly. It was sex, but it was more than that, dirty as hell, but  _ real, _ too. They were both men of passion, as different as they were, and they were passionate as Hell about each other. “That’s it, baby,” Nigel whispered, and ran his hands over Lee’s back, his ass, then over his hips, guiding him. “Ride Daddy hard.”

Their unbridled attraction for each other had been there from the start, and lead to an unrelenting love that Lee knew he’d never find anywhere else. Their sexual escapades were fun, exciting enough to keep it interesting, but not always needed. But, Lee did love to watch his husband’s reaction.

Up on his knees, he ground back down against Nigel’s, over and over, rhythmically slow to start, undulating in time with Nigel. “Like that?”

Lee looked like sex personified when he rode Nigel dressed up like that. He was all black lace, pale skin, and big blue eyes. Nigel gripped Lee’s hips, nails digging into the thin fabric of the stretched panties. “Fuck,  _ yes _ -” Nigel moaned, watching as his cock disappeared into Lee’s body. “Just like that, baby.”

Picking up the pace, Lee started to grind and roll his hips faster, hands on Nigel’s shoulders, leveraging himself with them. “Nigel-” he groaned.

Nigel scooped his arms under Lee’s ass, and picked him up as he stood, kissing Lee passionately as he walked him upstairs, still joined. He set Lee down on the bathroom counter, pulled out of him with a groan, then turned Lee around so that he faced the mirror. “Watch,” Nigel purred in Lee’s ear, and entered him from behind, staring at their reflection as he fucked his beautiful husband.

Lee dropped his hands to the counter, bracing himself as Nigel started to fuck him hard. Watching their forms, Nigel’s bigger frame hunched over him, almost wrapped all the way around him, conjoined. His lustful blues met Nigel’s in the mirror.

Nigel thrust into Lee, hip-deep, and leaned down to kiss and bite at the back of his neck as they watched themselves fuck. “Look at how fucking gorgeous you are-” Nigel rasped against Lee’s ear as his hips sped, pistoning smoothly as he filled Lee over and over.

Lee’s cock strained against the fabric of the panties, wetting them thorough with the pool of precome that had gathered there. Lee spread his legs just slightly, enough to drag the panties almost back into place, rubbing against Nigel’s cock. “Touch me…”

Nigel wrapped his hand around Lee’s cock, through the satin, stroking him with the soft, thin fabric as they fused with one another. Nigel panted against Lee’s ear, then nuzzled it with closed eyes, “Baby…”

The brunet ground back on Nigel's cock, rough and hard, beginning peaks of orgasm start to blend through deep in his spine. Gaping out, Lee started to pant and groan, hips undulating with uncontrolled passion. “Nigel, Nigel-!”

The pounding of Nigel’s hips sped up, and he could feel himself winding up tight inside, burning hard and hot. “Gonna come for me? Come on, baby …” he rasped, breathlessly as he stroked Lee, palm brushing the wet tip of Lee’s cock as it came out over the top of his panties.

Lee fell apart right then, coming over the rim of the panties, on Nigel's palm and dirtying the frilly things as he gasped and groaned, waves of pleasure coursing through his cock and balls. “Fuck-”

Nigel could feel Lee’s body squeezing and spasming around him, and that was all he could take. He bit the side of Lee’s pale throat, with a feral moan, and clutched him close by his hips as he came inside Lee, hard enough that white light flashed before his eyes and his ears rang.

Arching back, Lee held Nigel’s hand fast to his hips, threading their fingers together there as they fell apart together, one giant languid mess of nylon, lace, and skin.

After what seemed like hours suspended in bliss, Nigel wrapped his arms around Lee’s chest, and held him close as they caught their breath. “Best fucking Christmas gift …”

“Yeah,” Lee agreed, catching his breath, slow and deep, turning his face into Nigel's neck where he was held. “I fucking love you, my bear.”

“Love you too, pretty bird,” Nigel murmured, and turned Lee in his arms, gently, after pulling out of him, then held him to his broad, hairy chest like he was a delicate, precious thing. Nigel’s brutality was public, shown to anyone who pushed him in  _ any _ way. His tenderness was a private thing, but just as profound.

Lee smiled up at Nigel, arms around his shoulders, and kissed him sweetly. He always felt privileged to see this side of Nigel, to know he was the only one who would ever get to. “I'll definitely buy more.”

Nigel nuzzled Lee’s gorgeous face with his own, and kissed his forehead. “I’m the luckiest fucking man alive,” he sighed, looking down at Lee’s body again, at the messy lace and satin, and ran a hand over Lee’s stockinged thigh. “I didn’t even fucking know I was into this until you took the robe off.”

“I took a risk,” Lee grinned, kissing Nigel's neck and then his jaw, placing over his chest with one hand.

Nigel slipped his finger under the garter that held Lee’s stocking up, and tugged at it, playfully as he turned his head to kiss Lee’s lips. “I’ve never been so fucking turned on in my whole life.”

“Good,” Lee crooned, grinning from ear to ear, and then pulled Nigel down for a longer, heated kiss.

“Mmm…” Nigel groaned, and pulled Lee closer, then into the shower, starting it up over them with one hand, the other against Lee’s back, just above the waist of his panties. “You’re full of surprises.”

“I can’t be too predictable,” Lee mused, biting at Nigel’s bottom lip.

“Afraid I’m gonna get bored of you?” Nigel asked, and found shampoo on a shelf on the wall, and used it in Lee’s hair, massaging his scalp, slowly.

Lee laughed, still in his stocking and panties. “Of course not.”

“Good. Never going to get bored with you, baby,” Nigel assured Lee, and struggled to undo Lee’s garter belt with one hand. “How the fuck …”

“Pop it out; it’s a clasp,” Lee murmured, biting Nigel’s jaw, rubbing soap from his own hair up his chest.

Nigel managed, and laughed at how difficult it was, then crouched in the shower, undoing all four garter clasps before he rolled down Lee’s wet stockings for him, and kissed his smooth legs, one at a time, as he eased them off his feet. “Always loved those legs of yours.”

“Love them even more now?” Lee grinned, skimming the nylons off his legs with his toes.

“Not fucking possible,” Nigel smirked up at Lee, and helped take the lacy garter off of him, then tossed it over the shower curtain, and slipped the tiny panties off, slowly, doing the same with them before he stood to cup Lee’s face and kissed him again. 

Lee hummed his response into Nigel’s mouth, slowly kissing him, tongues tangling together fluidly. His hands wrapped around his hips, possessively, and pulled Nigel against him.

Nigel pressed closer, and hummed at the feeling of Lee’s needy hands on his hips as their hearts beat against each other’s, kept apart by inconsequential layers of bone and flesh. “Love you, baby.”

“Promise?” Lee teased, though there was a slight air of vulnerability under his tone, one that hardly ever showed with Lee, but he’d put himself out there for Nigel, with something new.

“Always,” Nigel whispered against Lee’s lips, promising it as he held him close.


End file.
